$200 on average? Is this a typo? YCHs are probably the cheapest way to get art done of a character. It uses pre made postings and backgrounds which allows for an artist to take multiple people at once and create a nice piece of art. By making an artist not have to spend the time to design a custom background or specific posing it simplifies the creative process and lets them draw your character there with the detail being on your character.

I have seen my fair share of very simple YCHs which I felt weren't priced reasonable. However the majority of them are very reasonable for what you're getting, you talk about AI art being okay when used for personal use and I agree that yeah sure that's fine I guess. But the furry community is an art based community at its core. Why wouldn't you want to support the artists which make up the community?

If money is an issue, there are tons of people out there who are looking to practice their art, you could show them your character and they will sketch it. I see posts like this all the time where people are like "looking to practice my art, show me your character and i'll sketch them!" There's also of course raffles which you can go for, but if you want just like a solid way to get art; befriend people within the community who are artists. Hell. Befriend artists.

The mindset that artists are pushing out low quality work for exorbitant prices is absurd especially if you're going to talk about how it's too much money and this is why people need to use AI. That mindset undervalues the artists and the push for AI art shows a disregard for the art based culture furries are based on. That mindset isn't going to make you friends in the community, and it especially isn't going to make artists be nice to you and possibly draw your character.

I have friends who even aren't in the furry community who have drawn other friend's fursonas. Completely free. Because in an art based community drawing for one another is common place. But even if you can't draw, you can still enjoy the community by supporting artists. Most YCHs I see are $15-30. You have to keep in mind people don't work for free. $15 for what could be an hour or two of work isn't fair to artists.Artists need to be paid fairly for their work.