Hey Ed – thanks for the comment!
Like I said in the post – I’ve had web design clients who have run contests on 99designs. See your email for the link. My personal experience has been with their Logo Store. It’s a different product than their contests. It’s easier to work with because it’s more straightforward. You like a design and purchase it.
The biggest issue with 99designs’ contests – and all outsourcing services from Upwork to 99designs to Fiverr – is communication & scope. It takes a good bit of thought & work to define the right contest, job request, etc. Note the extensive brief in the client link I sent. If you just post a general contest without a lot of detail or scope, you’ll get a lot of crappy submissions. Those in turn lead to bad reviews and blaming the platform.
I think that’s where specialized design platforms and local designers come in. They are usually in a better place to get a sense of general design direction & do revisions. Hope that clarifies a bit!