Been a whileince I touched base here. This Fall has been nothing like last Fall in So Cal. While we did see some outdoor, we didn't see anything near what we saw last year. I'm now dealing with just one dispensary. They're quite large and carry 70+ strains at all times. The most they will pay for the best out there is $3,500...and then under protest. But, they are buying at all times and haven't given us any flak about "there's all this kill outdoor for $2,000...bla...bla. That's the shit we heard last year. I'm assuming the smart outs growers developed different markets (think Mid West). Only fools will stay here and start a price war.
I'm only familiar with my local market, but I think many people believe their buds to be better than they are. One mistake in the whole growing process could result in your buds slipping into the "B" grade class...not a good place to be unless you're cool with 2k for indoor. My wife and I go through every bud in every pound before taking it to market. We remove any bud that isn't perfect. Even though my trimmers are quite experienced (the average age of our members is around 45) they still end up letting over an ounce/pound of sub par buds slip passed.
I have seen several people turned down by our buyer for a variety of reasons...most avoidable. One grower had some great smelling stuff. But, he harvested a bit early and it looked a little hairy. He was turned down. I took a hit of his shit and it was nothing short of killer. Even though the weed was great it lacked bag appeal. Another grower had left a bunch of small buds in the Lb and even a couple grams of shake. A little extra work on hert part and she'd of left with 3k in her pocket. Instead she was told to come back in a week with better sorted weed. Both these growers had elite genetics, yet skipped a little detail.
We weigh all our Lbs to 460 grams. We also remove any shake that has developed right before going to market. Just a gram of shake in the bottom of the bag look bad. I believe that great genetics grown proffesionally will always sell with little problem at a fair price.