So, I have an interesting issue. I claimed a YCH from an artist, who went ahead and did a sketch right away. But since then has left me off of their commission queue (or removed me), deleted the original listing where I claimed the YCH, and gone silent, while continuing to post and complete numerous other YCHs (10+ that I see completed since Dec 14, 2025 when I claimed it, as well as a new set today).

Now, I know the first question is "why haven't you asked them about it?" Well, there's some backstory that influenced decisions this time around. This is actually not the first time I have had an issue with this artist, though I will admit I was not the best customer then.
I claimed a YCH from them a long time ago when I was with my ex, but after we had a...very bad breakup, I asked the artist if they could do something else instead of the YCH, then waffled back and forth for a week before just deciding to do the sketchpage.
We settled on a BDSM style sketch sheet, though the price for it was less than what I paid for the YCH, so they refunded me some of my payment (wasn't my idea, I wanted to get art equivalent to what I paid, but we went with this). And then I waited, and heard nothing.
About a month after arranging the change I noticed they had a entry on their trello simply labeled "sketchpage," but it was not indicated it was mine. So I asked about it and they confirmed that yes it was mine, that they would be able to do it "next week." So I went back to waiting, and waiting.
2 months later I poked them again, just asking how it is going. No response. Another 2 months later, I tried again. Just "poke." All I was looking for was a response, any kind, just to know I was not forgotten about. Again no reply.
So I waited another month and then messaged them again asking what is going on. Again no response. That trello entry labeled "sketchpage" had been archived without me hearing a word or getting anything back.
So finally I kinda had enough and confronted them about it, threatening to file a claim with PayPal (literally the only time I have ever done so). I don't care if something takes a long time or whatever, just communicate. But the artist was essentially ghosting me and had seemingly abandoned my commission.
It wasn't until I threatened the chargeback with PayPal that they finally responded, in which they said they would rather I just refund the piece because they had no inspiration and such. So they just refunded the piece and we moved on.

At the time I did not write them off. I partially attributed those issues to my indecisiveness and changing the commission back and forth multiple times before we settled on the sketch page. I hoped we would be able to do something in the future once we put the experience behind us. So at the end of last year I saw a YCH of theirs I liked and claimed it. In light of the previous issues we had, they insisted that I didn't have to pay for the piece until it was finished, then went ahead to do the sketch for the piece. I decided I just was not going to poke them at all and just see what happens. Now 5 months later, silence, the original post deleted (I checked the original URL bc I sent it to the person I was getting the YCH with), and no mention of me or the YCH on their queue.

I'm not really sure what to do. On one hand I am not out any money, so it is what it is. But on another hand, what's going on? I know multiple people who have gotten stuff from this artist with no issues, and I have had issues 2/2 times now. And like I said, they have been posting completed art and YCHs regularly since then. But my YCH has seemingly just disappeared. It was listed in a pack of four YCHs, what happened to the other three?
I am just kinda baffled at the situation. I've worked with a lot of artists and I've had commissions slip through the cracks and whatnot. But when I reached out to them things got fixed, not ignored. I can't imagine they have been able to keep being an artist the way they have when they do this kinda thing to clients. And if it is just me, why didn't they simply refuse me claiming the YCH in the first place instead of this? It really just makes no sense.
So, any advice here? Do I go and confront them again or do I just say forget it and wash my hands of it?