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).