Ok, let me get this straight, because I want to make absolutely sure that that I understand your gripes correctly. You say that this work is worth $200 from a skilled artist, but you don't see a problem with getting 10 artists to do it and only paying one of them?
I think if you'd put up a request asking if someone was willing to do this for you the reactions might have been more positive than making several artists compete for something. We spend the time but might not get the cash in which case it would be 1-2 hours for $0 and you'd get a product for $200 no matter what. So say…