I quoted the rules prior to the edit in my post above (and copied below for convenience). wins over all. PM me with any questions
I suspect the OP edited to clarify rules and to somewhat apologize for accepting an offer in PM that may or may not have been inconsistent with the previous stated rules. If there was an in the PM, then that could have followed the previous stated rules in my opinion only if that came before the one everyone else saw in the thread. Any deals made after the in the thread "appear" as possible shenanigans. Timestamps of an actual (and not of an offer not yet accepted) within a PM have been used by other sellers to determine winners, so every thread is somewhat different based on rules of the thread. As you said, the OP's new rules are more straightforward. The OP's old rules allow for this behind-the-scenes scenario to play out (but sometimes can lead to questionable sales).