Guaranteed vs. Non Guaranteed Contests

What is the actual difference between a guaranteed and non-guaranteed contest— both for the designer, and for the contest holder?

Guaranteed contests will always have winners in the end.

At what point is it non-guaranteed up to? Once they pick a winner, can they still back out?

Here is some information on guarunteed contests:
https://www.designco...anteed-contests

To sum up - the right to request a refund is given up by the contest holder and a winner is guaranteed. If for any reason the contest holder does not choose a winner then the outcome is decided by a poll vote in the designers chat section of the forum. Please check the forum regularly and vote on these! A vote typically takes place if a contest holder hasn't chosen a winner or responded to DC after 5 weeks.. Guaranteed contests are good for the contest holder because they will receive many more designs.

Non-guaranteed contests are subject to refund. If the contest holder hasn't chosen a winner and hasn't responded to DC in the 5 week period then these are contests are marked abandoned. If this happens the prize is split amongst rated designers. If there are no rated designers then the prize goes towards community contests.

If you search the forum and/or the knowledgebase then you will find full information about this.

Didn't know about the pole vote or community contests, I'm learning a lot from these threads!