No offense, but the logos you received aren't that great, and definitely on par with what I'd expect for paying $50 or less. All I'm saying is, that in your post you talk about how it is the one symbol that defines your brand, and I feel like the quality of logos people get on sites like that end up looking like Acme Corp. It's all plug and play with no feeling, or emotional investment into the product. Of course, some are good, but the logos need a kernel of an idea. Notice how pretty much everybody put the wifi signal. Of course they did, that's the first thing I would think of too - but good design goes further than that. It truly takes some deep thinking.
Not necessarily the end of your business/career if you can market your value-add but a threat none the less.
As an entrepreneur? I see a wave of arbitrage opportunities.
I want to read your story of how you hired a programmer for $5 and got something done. I will even try it myself if I see a way for me to use the same strategy. You would be saving me a huge amount of money.
Everything matters. Saying logos matter is matters is somewhat meaningless. The question is how much do they matter? How much do they matter at one specific moment in time? How much time can you afford to spend on the logo problem at a moment in time?
I shared this story because I suspect there are a lot of people who would be willing to spend $30 to try getting a cheap logo for their startup/side project/whatever.
I really don't think you should feel threatened by it if you're able to communicate what value you're adding to a company by applying your unique design skills.