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Who is fly boy dave?


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Very interesting happenings on ebay! Has anyone noticed ? (or does anyone care? )There are currently 3 convertibles on ebay. Flyboy is currently high bidder on all 3 and was recently the high bidder at 10k on 90 with 120000 miles. These 4 cars are all over the country. This bidder has a "0" where no. of positives go.even though he spent 10k and has current high bids of almost 30k. If this is none of my business, somebody say so. Had quite an expereince myself recently on an ebay "low mileage" reatt but thats another topic. Comments encouraged.

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He also bought a 90 convertible in Michigan for $8100 and a coupe in Miami, FL for $5500. This guy must be a serious collector or he's trying to corner the market.

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Hmm...sounds like something that rhymes with "bill" and typically drives up the prices of items for sale at auction.<P><nudge> <nudge> Know what I mean?

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Guest kennyw

REATOM,<BR>I would be interested in hearing your buying experince of a Reatta on Ebay. I find it hard to bid at these large # on something you only see a picture of...........

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Lets hear more about concerns like this. If we cannot trust the auctions then everyone should be alerted. I have been tempted to bid, but I do not believe its on the level. Am I wrong?

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For what it is worth I got lucky buying My Reatta off ebay but at the same time I got ripped off by another Person. Do not be fooled by all there talk of insurance and buyer protection. I lost money and there policys did nothing to protect Me but the guy who stiffed Me is still selling on ebay. I dont go there any more for anything.

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Thanks for the comments. My ebay experience has been good on smaller reatta items etc but I recently had a bad one on a low mileage coupe from miami. I took a bus to pick up the car. Was met at station and saw right off the car was not in the shape I expected for a 27k car. The brakes were unsafe, dealer told me all pads had just been replaced. Well the mechanic kneew little and the pedal was mushy and the system failed all 4 tests. The beautiful rim and tire pic of a michelin tire was also a joke. There were 2 such tires on rear. The two front tires were worn out junk and the other 3 rims were fair at best. Lots of cosmetic problems, no mats, faded dirty carpet, engine missed badly, loose headlights and more. I refused to complete the deal and took the bus home. The only concern on the dealers part was that I not give neg feedback on ebay. I agreed but said nothing about this group, so here it is.

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Ebay has been a fascinating experience. I bought my Reatta there from Greg Fell, who was a contributor to this forum and an absolute prince of a person. He was candid, decent and helpful. The car was as he represented, and while there is some work to be done [oil leak], one has to expect the unexpected in a 115K car. I also bought an Allante. Car was beautiful, but on pickup it was apparent the Bosch III braking system was failing. Had I not managed to put it right through Prior Reman, it costs upwards of $3700 through the dealer. When I wrote to the seller, I was surprised that he readily agreed that his contribution to the project would be to ship me the hardtop for that car, which is worth from $9-1300. He did exactly that. While I was not pleased with his failure to disclose the brake problem, I was very pleasantly surprised at his willingness to be fair and cooperative knowing that he might be insulated by 1500 miles. All other minor purchases have been quite satisfactory. As a seller I had a buyer backed out of a deal on a project car I was selling, but that is no big deal.

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Guest Stan Leslie

While I have no proof, it appears that "fly boy dave" and "freebay" are non existing buyers. Another non-existing bidder was acknowledged by EBay earlier.

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Its too bad that the dealer in Miami did not put as much time detailing that Reatta as he did on producing the ebay ad. That was slick--it sure looked good to me. Good lesson that even with photographs there can be problems when you try to take delivery.

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For what it is worth when I bought My Reatta off ebay, The Guy did not push Me to send Him any money in advance so the check was still in My hand when I went to look at it and pick it up. He also encouraged Me to come look at it so I felt fairly secure in buying it. Also any question I asked Him about the car, He went into great detail about the good and the bad points. Skip

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Guest Stan Leslie

Out of curiosity, I emailed the seller of the $10,000 Driftwood Conv. in California regarding the closure of the sale to "flyboy-dave". Following is response. "Flyboy-Dave is an excellent ebayer. Fast payment and great communications. <BR>Regards, Gabriel". Sounds like the "positive response" entered on his behalf with EBay. I'm still skeptical. Seller appears to be a dealer.

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EBAY had written an article several months back in an effort to assure bidders that they were taking all possible steps to combat shilling. However, as far as I know, the only thing they actually check is whether a bid comes from the seller directly. There is no algorithym to check to isolate and monitor suspicious purchase patterns, such as appears to be identified for "flyboy Dave". We have a right to expect more from EBAY. Any auction house that is going to sell something as expensive and complex as cars on the internet should be writing or developing software to identify or profile suspicious or unlikely purchase patterns. These could be confirmed by running the vehicle ID #. Since the seller is involved in shilling scams, any effort to cross check by contacting him [or her] will be fruitless.

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I have been curious who flyboy-dave and feed bay are as well. <P>I am the one that has the '91 convertible on there. I am an honest person just trying to sell a great car. My concern is that other people may not be bidding on the car based on what these two people may be doing.<P>If anyone wants a great '91 convertible, please let me know. I think the reserve is reasonable and we can work something out.<P>Thanks,<P>Scott Ertler<BR>Scott.Ertler@compaq.com<BR>smertler@hotmail.com

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Guest Stan Leslie

As an EBay seller you should at least have access to the bidders email addresses. I think for high price items, you can also request a credit card guarantee through EBay, if that's worth anything.

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i have bid on several reattas on e-bay in the past few weeks only to get out bid by flyboy dave. i was wondering who he is also and the next thing i see is that he is the hot topic on this site.<P>i am in the collector car business here in s. florida and i am quite familiar about how the collector car auctions work throughout the country. e-bay is no exception to any of the others out here. they are the parent company of kruse international. my advise is to be careful on how you bid and who you are bidding against.if there is a shill, there is nothing much you can do but not bid. many auction companys openly disclose that they have the right to bid the car up to their reserve price and state this in writting in their auction policys that you sign when you register to bid.<P>as for the dealer in miami who sold the 27k mile reatta on ebay. i know the dealer and i knew of the car before it was offered on sale on e-bay. i was surprised that it brought the money it did. he was reputable in the fact that he did not bind the buyer to the contract of the sale. he probably advertised the car "as is" which makes it a binding contract. from talking to many dealers or private partys who sell cars often on e-bay they state that there is about a 20% no sale percentage rate even after the car successfully met the reserve. many sales do not consummate for various reasons because of the seller or buyer. this dealer acknowledges this and probably will correct his description if he should decide to auction the car again on e-bay.<P> many people do not like to buy cars from dealers but the facts are that you have more recourse to get out of the deal or get your complaints settled with a dealer than you do with a private party. the courts look to protect the private party over the dealer because they feel that a dealer is more knowledgeable and should be more aware of any problems. this is why most dealers have a lenghty sales contract. they are bonded in most states and you can go against the dealer bond if a court rules in your favor. you can go directly to their bonding company for settlement.

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FYI-- I emailed both "Flyboy-dave" and "free-bay" to let them know that I have a 91 convert for sale. I'll post any response if I get one.

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Feedbay and flyboy are still at it. The 2 currently are high bidder on three higher priced reattas. They apparently dropped out on the white conv once an outside bidder jumped in. Sure sounds like a shill to me.

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Flyboy Dave was the high bidder on my 90 Reatta Conv. Todate, I have corresponded with him via e-mail and we have spoken with him on the phone. So far, I have no reason to believe that he is anything but on the up and up. If something changes I will let everyone know.

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This is Flyboy-dave and I'm real. That $10,000 1990 Reatta convertible from California is parked in my garage right now and the one from Florida is in my shop getting new light bulbs and such put in. We (my wife Sandy and I) are flying to Atlanta next Friday to pick up a 1990 red convertible from a nice guy by the name of Tom down in Marietta, GA. We already had two red Reattas and love them both. Now we will have five. Love those Reattas to death. To see my business web site go to <A HREF="http://www.quadcitychallenger.com" TARGET=_blank>www.quadcitychallenger.com</A>

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This is Flyboy again. By the way, the Reatta I bought from a Florida dealer came by truck for $600.00 which is about average for delivery. The car was in fair shape but needed a battery, tires, light bulbs and a few other things. The dealer didn't even bother making sure that is was road worthy. None of the turn signals worked, the tail light fuse was missing completely, one fog light was burned out, the bottom half of the car was repainted with the wrong paint and many other minor things. I can get "up to snuff" but it's a shame he would let it go out in such rough shape. I'll never buy another from a dealer in Miami. The one from G.E.M. Auto in the Los Angles area was perfect.

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Hi and welcome Dave. I feel like We have gotten to know You from this thread! Your web site is neat. I always wanted an Ultalight and Yours looks first class. Hope You get the Reatta worked out. Hard to believe a Persond conscience doesnt bother Him after selling a car like Yours. Again Welcome. Skip smile.gif" border="0

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Guest Stan Leslie

Dave, Welcome to the group. Hope you enjoy your Reattas, sounds like you do. Always glad to see someone buying one who appreciates them. Ther are plenty more out there that need a good home.

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Dave,<BR>My first Reatta was from Florida and I just sold it on ebay. I have since purchased a local 90 model since the convertable didn't happen. Good to hear your story...do you live in Il? Talked with a fellow from that part of the US and he had two already.

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Yes, I'm from Moline, Illinois. We bought our first two Reattas locally at used car dealerships in the past two years. They were both high milers and have given us great pleasure. I think the Reatta is the best car Detroit has ever built even with it's little quirks. My wife Sandy's 88 red Reatta coupe has 115,000 miles and my 89 red coupe has 150,000 miles and runs perfect. The 90 gold covertable we just got is Sandy's car and her 88 is going in the shop for some AC work and then storage 'till winter. Well, better stop now or I'll go on forever about these wonderful cars.

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Hi, Dave! Well we have a Dave in our Family too, and we're glad you're not a figment of EBay smile.gif" border="0 "Hi" to Sandy, too.<P>We bought my 1991 Coupe new off the showroom floor. We pooh-poohed the convertible line for many years as we had other covertibles that were not "tight" like the Reatta and the Allante we once owned.<P>However, in the last year we purchased a 1991 Reatta convertible as we realized what a gem these cars are for their rarity, if nothing else. I have always loved my Coupe and it has never given me a problem other than standard maintenance and replacing the antenna and upgrading the A/C and the like.<P>It is probably the least expensive car we have ever owned when you consider the price per mile with maintenance. Almost everyday I get someone who wants to know what it is and can't believe it is 10 years old. Mine is Maui Blue w/blue interior and our convertible is White w/tan interior and a tan top.<P>The trend on these and other collectable cars is that they depreciate for the first 10 years and then start going the other way.<BR>We have owned the Datsun Z in early days and bought and sold those making a premium over our purchase price even after driving for 150K. Of course, part of that is keeping the car in top shape!<P>Yes, like you we are "Reatta bores" but if you love them you are in a special class. Don't buy them all, however, because we are trying to convert a lot of our Friends and Family and want to have a few available for others to share in our excitement!<P> wink.gif" border="0

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Thanks Dave for the I.D. Welcome. Did notice that feedbay dissapeared about the time you bought your last car but now we have Temackey bidding on several reattas on ebay.If your legit Mr T. let us know but save some for the rest of us reattanuts.

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