The tight tolerances that most reels are designed with can be affected with even the slightest thickness of a coat of paint. In other words, good luck trying to disassemble the entire thing, figure out what needs to be painted and what doesn't, and then put 8 coats of paint and trying to put it back together again.
All the reels I've seen custom painted went through a long and arduous and expensive process, and were broken down, piece by piece, and more anodizing was done, rather than painting.
Perhaps the person put it on eBay for $60, knowing it is going to be much more expensive to get it re-painted.
Check out the all black'ed out Conquest: