Every ecommerce entrepreneur needs design work. A logo that looks credible when customers see it on their package. Product packaging that stands out in a category. A landing page visual that converts rather than confuses. Social media graphics that actually get attention. Getting professional design done without a full-time designer or expensive agency has historically meant either accepting mediocre results from cheap freelancers or spending months finding a designer whose style matches your vision.
99designs solved this problem with a model that’s genuinely different from other freelance platforms: design contests. Post a brief, have dozens of designers submit concepts, give feedback, pick a winner, and receive full copyright ownership of the finished design. The result is that you see multiple creative interpretations of your brief before committing to any direction – which is particularly valuable for entrepreneurs who know roughly what they want but aren’t sure how to get there from a blank canvas.
Founded in 2008 in Melbourne, Australia and now part of the Vista (Vistaprint) family, 99designs is the world’s largest on-demand design marketplace. With 500,000+ happy customers, 37,000+ customer reviews averaging 4.8/5 on its platform, and a design-only focus that filters out the noise of general freelance platforms, it’s the most established option in professional crowdsourced design.
This is an independent review covering how the platform works, both the contest and direct hire models, the complete pricing structure for major design categories, what the quality is actually like, honest limitations, and specifically how to use 99designs for ecommerce branding.
What Is 99designs?
99designs (99designs.com) is a design-only freelance marketplace connecting businesses with a global community of professional graphic designers. Unlike general platforms like Fiverr or Upwork that cover every type of freelance work, 99designs focuses exclusively on design. Every designer on the platform is there to do design work, which means the quality filtering, designer profiles, and platform features are all optimized for design projects specifically.
The platform covers virtually every design category an ecommerce or online business would need: logos, brand identity, product packaging, website design, landing pages, social media assets, email templates, print materials, app UI, illustrations, t-shirt and merchandise designs, book covers, and more.
What makes 99designs genuinely different is the contest model – the ability to see concepts from multiple designers before committing to any single direction.
Two Ways to Get Design Work
Design Contests: Post a brief describing your project, brand, target audience, and style preferences. Multiple designers submit concepts based on your brief. You review submissions, provide feedback to designers you like, and the process evolves over 7 days. At the end, you pick the design you want, pay, and receive all design files plus full copyright ownership.
The contest follows a structured process: a qualifying round where all designers submit initial concepts (4 days, or 6 for web design), then you select up to 6 finalists who get additional time to refine their work (3 more days for most categories, 5 for web design). Once you pick a winner, they deliver final production-ready files. This model works best for: businesses exploring what they want stylistically, projects like logos or brand identity where seeing multiple interpretations adds clarity, and situations where creative variety matters before committing to a direction.
1-to-1 Direct Hire: Browse designer profiles with portfolios, reviews, tier levels (Entry, Mid, Top), contest wins, and repeat client stats. Request quotes from multiple designers, compare approaches and pricing, and hire the one that best matches your vision and budget. Three phases: Discuss (scope and payment), Design (concept development with revisions), Delivery (final files). A 5% client platform fee applies on top of the negotiated designer price. This model works best for: businesses that have a clear design direction already, ongoing relationships with a designer who learns your brand, or complex projects where starting a contest would be inefficient.
Design Categories
Visual identity and branding: Logos (the platform’s core category), business cards, brand identity packs (logo + business card + stationery), brand guidelines.
Web and digital: Website design, landing pages, app UI/UX, social media assets (Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn graphics), email newsletter design.
Print and packaging: Product packaging (boxes, labels, bags), book covers, merchandise design (t-shirts, mugs, apparel), posters, flyers, brochures, signage.
Art and illustration: Custom illustrations, infographics, album artwork, character design.
For ecommerce store owners building high-ticket brands, the most relevant categories are typically: logo design, brand identity, product packaging, landing page design, and social media templates. 99designs has deep coverage in all of these.
Pricing
99designs uses tiered contest pricing that varies by design category. All packages include full copyright ownership and production-ready digital and print files.
Logo design: Bronze $299 (~30 concepts, all designer tiers), Silver $499 (~60 concepts), Gold $899 (~90 concepts, Mid and Top designers only), Platinum $1,299 (Top designers, maximum concepts).
Logo + brand identity pack: Bronze $599, Silver $899, Gold $1,699, Platinum $2,499.
Website design: Bronze $599, Silver $899, Gold $1,599, Platinum $2,499.
Product packaging: Bronze $449, Silver $749, Gold $1,199, Platinum $1,699.
Illustration/graphics: Bronze $349, Silver $549, Gold $899, Platinum $1,399.
Important: A 5% client platform fee applies to all projects and appears at checkout – not prominently advertised upfront. On a $299 logo contest, that’s an additional $14.95. Factor this into your budget from the start.
Optional add-ons include fast-track completion (1-3 days), private contest (competitors can’t see your brief), featured listing, and making your contest “guaranteed” (attracts more participation but changes your refund rights).
Money-back guarantee: Available on non-guaranteed contests if you’re not satisfied with any submissions before the contest enters its final round. Once a contest is guaranteed or enters the finalist stage, refund conditions change. Read the specific guarantee terms before starting a contest.
Higher tiers are worth it for logo and brand identity specifically – Gold and Platinum filter to Mid and Top level designers, and the quality difference is meaningful. For one-off product graphics or social templates, Bronze or Silver is usually sufficient.
Designer Quality and Vetting
99designs organizes designers into three levels: Entry Level (newer designers, pay 15% platform fee, up to 15 contests/month), Mid Level (experienced with established contest win history, noticeably better quality on complex projects), and Top Level (elite designers with strong portfolios, high repeat client rates, accessible on Gold and Platinum tiers).
Designer profiles include portfolio samples, star ratings and reviews, total contests won, repeat client percentage, and response speed. This transparency is stronger than most freelance platforms.
One honest limitation: the majority of submissions in a contest come from designers who specialize in creating speculative work at volume. The designs are professional, but they’re created without the in-depth discovery process a dedicated brand strategist would bring. If you need genuinely strategic brand identity work with competitive analysis and positioning built in, a dedicated brand consultant will outperform a 99designs contest.
A documented platform issue: some designers occasionally submit stolen or stock-image-based designs. 99designs has a reporting system for this and actively polices it, but run reverse image searches on winning concepts for anything going on product packaging or brand materials.
99designs for Ecommerce Entrepreneurs
For high-ticket dropshipping store owners and ecommerce entrepreneurs building their brands, 99designs covers the design categories that matter most:
Logo and brand identity: The platform’s strongest category. A Silver or Gold logo contest ($499-$899) gives you 60-90 concepts from multiple designers, showing you what your brand could look like across completely different creative interpretations. This is far more efficient than hiring a single designer, getting one direction, and either accepting it or starting over.
Product packaging: For entrepreneurs developing their own private label products, packaging design is where 99designs adds direct commercial value. Bronze packaging contests start at $449, giving you access to professional packaging concepts without hiring a packaging agency at 5-10x the cost.
Landing page design: Web design contests (Bronze $599) produce page mockups and layouts you can hand off to a developer. For entrepreneurs building high-converting sales pages, getting professional mockups from multiple designers helps identify the visual approach most likely to convert before development begins.
Store launch package strategy: A practical approach that works well: run a logo contest at Silver tier ($499) first. Once you have a logo you love and a winning designer you like working with, hire that same designer 1-to-1 for additional brand assets (business cards, social templates, packaging) at negotiated rates. This builds brand consistency while leveraging your relationship with a designer who already understands your aesthetic.
For businesses with a properly structured brand foundation, consistent professional design across logo, packaging, and digital assets makes the brand look significantly more credible – which directly supports premium pricing on high-ticket products.
What Real Users Say
According to Don’t Do It Yourself’s independent 99designs review, the contest structure is genuinely valuable for businesses that aren’t sure exactly how they want their designs to look. The brief-building process guides non-designers through articulating their vision in a way that produces better results than typical freelance job postings. The platform is particularly strong for logo design and produces professional-quality concepts consistently at the Silver and Gold tiers. The main honest assessment: 99designs is more expensive and time-consuming than alternatives. For businesses needing ongoing design work across multiple projects, an unlimited design subscription service may provide better economics.
According to G2’s verified 99designs user reviews, the platform has maintained strong positive sentiment particularly around logo design contests and brand identity projects. Users consistently praise the ability to see multiple creative interpretations of their brief before committing, the quality of designer profiles for evaluating talent, and the smooth file handoff process. Common criticisms: the platform can be expensive for multiple one-off projects, and the contest model requires active client involvement to produce good results – passive participation yields mediocre output.
According to Ecomm.design’s ecommerce-specific 99designs review – written by someone who used the platform firsthand for multiple ecommerce projects including product packaging and logo design – 99designs produces excellent ecommerce visuals when you guide the process actively. Mid-tier contests ($299-$599) delivered clean, professional designs suitable for packaging and product pages with active feedback. Early drafts in a contest tend toward generic concepts; quality improves meaningfully with specific, detailed feedback during the qualifying round. When a designer dropped off mid-project, 99designs customer support stepped in to resolve the situation.
Pros and Cons
What I like about 99designs:
The contest model is genuinely unique and valuable for entrepreneurs who don’t have a clear design direction yet. Seeing 30-90 concepts across different creative interpretations helps you discover your brand aesthetic in a way that working with a single designer can’t match. Full copyright ownership on all designs, including production-ready vector files for print and digital use, is standard. Designer profiles with portfolios, ratings, contest wins, and repeat client percentages give meaningful information for evaluating talent. 4.8/5 customer rating from 37,000+ verified reviews reflects genuine satisfaction at scale. Design-only focus means every platform feature is optimized for design work. Money-back guarantee on non-guaranteed contests. Covers every design category an ecommerce brand needs.
What I’d flag:
The 5% client platform fee appears at checkout rather than prominently on pricing pages – factor it in from the start. The contest model requires active client participation throughout the 7-day process; passive contests produce generic results. 99designs is more expensive than Fiverr or Upwork for equivalent design work, especially for simpler projects. For businesses needing frequent ongoing design output, the per-project contest model gets expensive fast – an unlimited design subscription may be more cost-effective. Some designers submit generic or stock-based concepts; run reverse image searches on winning designs for important brand assets. The contest model means most designers who participate don’t get paid (only the winner does) – worth knowing given the ethical complexity.
99designs vs Alternatives
| Platform | Model | Logo Price | Design Focus | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 99designs | Contest + direct hire | $299-$1,299 | Design only | Multi-concept exploration, brand identity |
| Fiverr | Direct hire gigs | $50-$500+ | All freelance | Fast, cheap, single designer |
| Upwork | Proposals/contracts | Varies | All freelance | Complex, ongoing projects |
| DesignCrowd | Contest focused | Lower pricing | Design only | Budget-conscious contest format |
| Logonerds | Direct hire | Varies | Logo/brand focus | Logo specialists |
99designs vs Fiverr: 99designs gives you multiple concepts and curated quality. Fiverr is faster and cheaper but you’re hiring one designer and hoping they deliver. For logo and brand identity where creative exploration matters, 99designs is worth the premium. For simple, repeatable design tasks, Fiverr is more efficient. 99designs vs DesignCrowd: DesignCrowd has lower contest pricing and more submissions at lower tiers, but 99designs has a larger designer pool (over twice as many), stronger profile transparency, and a more refined platform experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is 99designs?
99designs (99designs.com) is the world’s largest on-demand design marketplace, founded in 2008 in Melbourne, Australia, now part of Vista (Vistaprint parent). It connects businesses with 1 million+ freelance graphic designers through two models: design contests (where multiple designers submit concepts and you pick a winner) and 1-to-1 direct hire (working directly with a specific designer). Covers logos, brand identity, product packaging, web design, social media assets, illustrations, print materials, and more. 500,000+ happy customers, 4.8/5 from 37,000+ reviews.
How does a 99designs contest work?
You post a brief describing your project, brand, and style preferences. Multiple designers submit initial concepts during a qualifying round (4 days for most categories, 6 for web design). You review submissions, give feedback, and select up to 6 finalists for a final round (3 more days). You pick a winning design, pay, and receive all production files plus full copyright ownership. Standard turnaround: 7 days. Fast-track options available for 1-3 day completion.
How much does 99designs cost?
Logo design contests start at $299 (Bronze) up to $1,299 (Platinum). Web design starts at $599 (Bronze) up to $2,499 (Platinum). Product packaging starts at $449 (Bronze). A 5% client platform fee applies to all projects at checkout. Higher tiers give you more concept submissions and access to more experienced designers (Gold and Platinum filter to Mid/Top Level designers only). 1-to-1 direct hire prices are negotiated with individual designers plus the 5% platform fee.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Yes, on non-guaranteed contests. If you’re not satisfied with any of the submitted designs, you can request a full refund before the contest enters its final round (before you select finalists). Once a contest is guaranteed or enters the final round, refund conditions change significantly. Read the guarantee terms carefully before starting a contest.
What design categories does 99designs cover?
99designs covers: logos, brand identity packs, business cards, brand guidelines, website design, landing pages, app UI/UX, social media assets, email templates, product packaging, book covers, merchandise design, t-shirts, posters, flyers, brochures, illustrations, infographics, signage, and more. For ecommerce businesses, the most relevant categories are logo, brand identity, product packaging, web/landing page design, and social media assets.
Is 99designs better than Fiverr for logo design?
For logos specifically, 99designs generally produces better results because the contest model gives you multiple creative interpretations rather than one designer’s single attempt. The quality curation is also stronger – the platform is design-only with vetting and rating systems optimized for design quality. Fiverr is faster and cheaper for simpler, lower-stakes design work. For foundational brand assets like logos and brand identity, the investment in 99designs typically pays off in quality and creative variety.
My Verdict on 99designs
99designs earns an 8.5/10 for ecommerce entrepreneurs, small business owners, and anyone who needs professional design work without a full-time designer or agency.
The contest model is genuinely valuable for logo and brand identity work – seeing 30-90 concepts from multiple designers across different creative directions is the most efficient way for non-designers to discover their brand aesthetic and commit to a direction with confidence. Full copyright ownership, design-only quality curation, and 37,000+ reviews averaging 4.8/5 confirm a platform that delivers on its core promise.
The honest deductions: active participation in your contest is required for quality results. The 5% platform fee appears at checkout rather than upfront. And for businesses needing frequent, ongoing design output, the per-project pricing model becomes expensive compared to unlimited design subscriptions.
For launching an ecommerce brand, the Silver or Gold logo contest ($499-$899) is one of the highest-ROI investments you can make – professional brand identity that makes your store look credible from day one. Follow it with the winning designer for brand identity and packaging work, and you’ll have a cohesive visual foundation that supports premium pricing and customer trust.
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Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
