> For $300, you're typically not getting as well thought out a design as you would for $10,000.
You're likely to get a temporary logo that lasts you 6-12 months until you need a real logo. On the other end of the pricing extreme, Vancouver supposedly spent $239,000 on a logo design.
http://archive.citycaucus.com/2009/12/239000-dollars-for-gre...
One company I worked for during the first dotcom bubble paid six figures for a branding exercise that included a logo that amounted to being a knockoff of the belt buckle of the original X-men.
I can understand why designers hate it, because the industry becomes a race to the bottom, and devalues the profession by making it seem like a commodity. The same thing happened with professional photography, especially in the wedding photography segment.
But I don't have a lot of money to spend on design. I can mock a piece of crap myself, or pay what I can afford to someone willing to do the work (or in the case of a crowdsourced service, compete) for it.
A higher priced designer isn't really losing revenue from me, because I was never able to afford him/her in the first place - and at least a designer is getting some money from me.
Having said that, you do typically get what you pay for. For $300, you're typically not getting as well thought out a design as you would for $10,000.