Signup is easy and takes just a few minutes to get started. An email address, username, password, real name (or business name), and location are required to get started.  By completing your profile and uploading sample CAD files, you increase your ranking and give buyers a better idea of your expertise and experience.

All prizes are paid through Paypal. Payment will be made once the final files are uploaded and the buyer approves them. Once approved, you will automatically receive your payment minus the 20% commission fee. Be sure to have the correct Paypal email in your account settings.

The buyer has 7 days to approve the winning design. Be sure to keep in contact with the client and to address any required changes or revisions. If it has been over a week since you uploaded your final design software files, be sure to contact support.

Some Buyers submit private contests that are only viewable on the contest page.  Private contests will have a lock icon beside them.

New rankings take 24 hours to show up on your profile.

All of the entries are ranked at the end of the contest by the buyer. Aside from winning the prize, the highest rank design also gets 50 points added to their ranking. Second place gets 20 points, Third place gets 10 points and the rest of the top ten gets 2 points. Designers who enter a CAD design within 48 hours will also get a 20 point “Early Bird” bonus. Your overall ranking is based on the total of all points you receive for all your entries and is calculated once per day.

You may also earn points through your participation within the Cad Crowd Community. Voting for a new designer or participating in a CAD Court Case will garner you 2 points. Reporting a comment to the administration that is subsequently removed is worth 20 points.

If a buyer starts a contest, receives over 30 different entries and then requests a refund, they will be charged a $75 fee which will then be awarded to the highest ranked designer. The winning designer will still retain the rights to their entry. If a contest fails to get at least 30 separate entries, the buyer will get a full refund and will not have to pay a $75 fee. This policy helps encourage participation and reduce risk for both buyers and designers.

For quality assurance purposes, all new CAD Designers are required to go through a probation period in which Cad Crowd administrators are required to manually review each entry for quality and guideline adherence before allowing them to be entered into a contest.  New accounts are then approved or denied after a minimum of 20 entries but it may take more entries before the administrators are able to make an informed decision. Once your entry is approved, it will appear in the contest marked with your original submission time and entry number.