I am missing something here?
I do not think you are. Buying copper membership gets one automatically whitelisted and thus lifts some of the restrictions on posting or sending personal messages.
Copper members are also exempt from the
Newbie PM opt in option, so they are considered for a different rank when it comes to personal messages;
In response to the annoying PM spam, you now have to opt into receiving PMs from newbies. The option is in your
PM preferences. You also can't
send PMs to newbies if you haven't opted in. Copper members are exempt, but only if you're wearing the copper membership.
@OP, the delay could be due to cache delays, try giving it a bit of time and trying again.