I've been involved in projects that used 99designs.
I would not use 99designs for, say, a whole website.
I would be very wary of design submissions that are stolen or plagiarized from other sources.
But for simple transactional work, like a new logo or wordmark, I think it's the way to go. The fact is, most tech startups probably don't benefit that much from "focused attention" to small graphical flourishes. You are probably not Twitter, and the birdie probably isn't going to make or break you.
Also: how'd you end up needing your money back? Don't you have to accept a design to end up spending money?
You pay first, then get a refund if you do not select a winning design. The benefit of focused attention is not for "small graphical flourishes", rather it takes less of your time so you can move on to other things. This is where I think the 99design concept falls down. It takes less time and energy to work with 1 person vs many, especially when that 1 person has more talent and expertise. 99design is classic penny wise and pound foolish, ymmv as others have stated, sometimes you get lucky (I loose my ass at the craps table, so I tend to stick to black jack).
I would not use 99designs for, say, a whole website.
I would be very wary of design submissions that are stolen or plagiarized from other sources.
But for simple transactional work, like a new logo or wordmark, I think it's the way to go. The fact is, most tech startups probably don't benefit that much from "focused attention" to small graphical flourishes. You are probably not Twitter, and the birdie probably isn't going to make or break you.
Also: how'd you end up needing your money back? Don't you have to accept a design to end up spending money?