Pretty sure it's because he has so few posts. I believe Private Messages and posting/replying to classifieds is disabled at first. I believe you can pay $25/yr to get around it or make a number of posts first.
Here is another idea you may not have thought about.
Running forums cost both time and money. If you add content, then you’re adding to the value of the forum. I haven’t seen it before, but it makes sense to me. $25/year allows you to bypass it!