How do I pay?

Personally, I wouldn't do it.

You would only want to purchase those if you can inspect the speakers in person and pick them up yourself when delivering the check. Think of it as exchanging prisoners at Checkpoint Charlie.

If you just mail off a check you are at the complete mercy of the seller's honesty, or lack thereof.

Isn’t there some sort of escrow service?

That's paypal. If he doesn't want to use them, he probably doesn't want to go that route at all. Tempting as it might be, I wouldn't do it with no feedback. 

DO NOT buy from this dude you may get beat.

Don’t do it.

Tell him to ship you the speakers first. Once you've received them, THEN you'll send him the cashiers check.

What he's asking for is basically the same thing - your complete, blind, trust.

+1 elrod

I'd pass on this deal.

If you must do it and can't do it in person, postal money orders offer some protection.  Crooks know that the feds will come after them if there is fraud involved and won't accept them. Ditto using postal mails to deliver it. Of course this guy might just be dumb and then you have nothing but a hassle on your hands getting the feds involved. My advise, don't do it.

If you have good feedback, it is reasonable for you to ask for him to ship the speakers prior to your payment. I have done this successfully in the past.

I'm going to echo what others have said.  DON'T DO IT!!!  There are plenty of speakers on sale from sellers with feedback.  Be patient.  

This is UPS COD terms as an option for you. At worse case, the shipper is out the shipping charge, so perhaps you pay the shipping charges in good faith as you are not the shipper, and the rest is COD. Make a written contract with details of exactly what is being bought, the condition, the "warranty" on fitness, etc. The sellers other option is another buyer and/or taking a shave on price and selling locally. Sorry but I cannot remember the COD rates but obviously not free.


Terms of Service

These terms of service apply to C.O.D.:

• UPS will accept C.O.D.s for amounts up to $50,000CAD per shipment.
• UPS will accept a business or personal check, or another negotiable form of payment.
• At the shipper’s request, UPS will accept a certified check or money order only.
• The shipper assumes all risk related to the collection of the payment, including non-payment, insufficient funds, and forgery.

I would not say don't buy from someone with no feedback, but someone with no feedback needs to understand they are selling from a position of weakness.

Do you know their real name and have you found them on LinkedIn or Facebook?

@kjohn1234 there are escrow services (PayPal is not an escrow service) but both of you would have to agree to use one, and it would cost money and add complexity.

If neither of you has any particular reason to trust the other, then the only time you should use a cashier's check is when you would also use cash—in other words for an in-person sale.

Walk away.  Too much risk.

The seller is insisting on a payment method there's no good reason to use other than as a ripoff. What more is there to say?

Run away, very fast!

Here are 3 online escrow companies licensed in California. Does not mean they're good just that they are licensed. 

https://dfpi.ca.gov/online-escrow-companies/

I wouldn't do the transaction otherwise. 

There a a lot of speakers you can buy for $4K. If the person is being difficult buy something else. Especially for someone with no Feedback. This seller should jump through hoops to get a sale and some good Feedback.

It’s sad two parties can’t do a gentlemans agreement these days.

The honor system is a risky thing. I've done it in the past, but wouldn't now. 

Just send the seller a quick email asking him if he'd accept UPS COD or an escrow service. I suspect his answer will be "no"...

Gee, I'm sorry but I found a better deal.

I just sold a pair of speakers to a gentleman this weekend. He came over -- masks on -- listened to a couple of cuts. Agreed to buy the speakers and PayPal’d me the money.

There was an option on my end to perform an instant transfer of funds to my bank for an additional $10. Once the funds cleared, I helped him load out the speakers, box them up, and he was on his way.

I was leery of doing the whole Pay Pal thing and was strongly preferring cash or cashier check, but this really worked out well. He couldn’t of been a nicer cat either.

Bottom line...protect yourself and if your Spidey senses are tingling, walk away. Plenty of other opportunities out there.

Cheers,
Joe

Escrow, or COD and inspection upon arrival, if not, then no No deal! That is a gentlemans agreement. Shipping is the only thing lost...

I had a guy show me one speaker twice, the other speaker was a hatchet job... He thought he was clever.. Be aware... He had them loaded on my truck.. when I noticed all kinds of things on ONE speaker.  It had been dropped... I was hoppin', I mean HOPPIN'...MAD... His next door neighbor was laughing his self into an attack.. I caught on real quick...

Out comes the pepper spray. :-)

Regards

Another don't do it. You send cashier check, he ships speakers, they get damaged in transit (speakers & heavy amps take the biggest hits in shipping). You think he'll take them back? 
 Paypal payment,  seller is responsible for delivering item as described.

Unless I could listen to the speakers in person, I wouldn't consider sending a cashier's check to somebody prior to having the speakers in my possession. And, $4K isn't something that would warrant such demands.
From my days of buying/selling watches, I have seen numerous posts about cashier's checks being bounced, as well as wire transfers. 
Unfortunately, we live in a world where a few bad actors spoil online buying, so I guess the seller is trying to protect himself.
One possible course of action is to ask if he has an Ebay, USAM, or Audiogon account, and you would be able to see if he has positive feedback.
B

See how trustworthy humans are. Who do you really trust? Why are we like this. Is i that there are too many thieves out there or are we all thieves under certain circumstances. 

@kjohn1234,

You can use Escrow.com to complete the sale. There is a small fee involved but atleast this gives you peace of mind against any possible fraud or defective merchandise. 

https://www.escrow.com/learn-more/how-escrow-payments-work/how-escrow-payments-work

If seller refuses to accept payment via escrow, I would walk away from this deal. 

I came across a seller who had a great price on a Shunyata Research Triton v1 and typhon.  He then made up excuses on why he didn't want to use paypal and said "I'll just send them to you and when it arrives, send a check".  Weeks went by and after a few calls he ghosted me and then I saw it listed again at the same price.  I reached out and asked what was up?  He then face-timed me showing his mansion and finally said "We are humans and you are going to have to trust me and just send me a check and I will ship to you".  Mind you, he had three feedbacks from four years ago - I figured he was couch surfing at his brother's pad and tried to milk me out of $2400.  Gave me a good laugh.

@lalitk +1

escrow.com is a great service but doesn't cost any less than PayPal. It seems to run about 3% as well. If the seller will not pay for one or the other service, and it makes financial sense,  offer to pay the fee yourself. If seller still says no, run!

I don't like using PayPal to sell expensive audio components and I usually don't ship anything expensive or heavy either. I'd rather the buyer come to my house to see if the item works/sounds right for him and then pays me cash. I've had people drive 1000 miles to pickup and 150lb turntable and 150lb speakers because even with the original boxes, I won'y ship. 
Paypal is for the buyer most of the time and if the buyer receives the product and doesn't like it, then he can go to PayPal and request a refund and usually get it.
When I ship overseas, the buyer must use PayPal friends and family because once the product leaves the states, I don't want to be responsible because of customs

RUN

RUN FAST

RUN FAST AND FAR

Don't do it! 
I had a deal for a lot less money ($650) and the dude ripped me off.

Sometimes the seller will have a validated profile on eBay or audiogon so ask him that. Otherwise escrow.com 

The answer to the OP's question is: through the nose.

I had an instance when a seller refused to use PayPal due to it's fees.  I offered to add the Paypal fee to the asking price and we did the deal that way.  I refused to do the deal w/o protection and was willing to pay a premium for that protection.

How close to you does this seller live? If no shipping is involved I think Misstl has it right above. Plan to pick the speakers yourself and bring cash to his house after you make sure he doesn't live in a dicey part of town. If you like them after inspection/listening, help him load them onto your vehicle, then pay him and drive home. I’d like to see his receipt for them too from when he purchased them originally, just to be sure they are not stolen merchandise. Having had worked 25-30 years in Corrections, I can assure you there are an awful lot of crooks and con-men out there.

Mike

Quite simple, Don't get obsessed over 1 particular speaker for sale, Move on to another speaker or wait til another pair  becomes avaliable. 
Paypal offers some protection. I would never ever send a  cashiers ck for anything audio. 
I only use paypal

Yes if you live within say 500 miles, maybe you could split the drive  with seller, pay in cash. Seller has to give $100 for drive fees

Don’t do it!

Buy them in person or don’t buy them at all.

Ask yourself this simple question: why isn't he willing to accept paypal ? 2/3% overhead over a 4K deal ? This one stinks . . . .

Zero. Feedback, wants a cashier’s check? This deal has SCAM written all over it! 

kjohn1234 OP

Tell him you'll pay the Paypal fees on top of the $4000, if he doesn't do it then forget him, he's a scammer.

Cheers George 

This is a common scam, don’t do it!!

PayPal is not always protection.

IF there is an invoice for goods (i.e. specifically naming the speakers), then you have PayPal protection.

IF you just pay via PayPal, without an invoice, it is 'sending money to friends or family', with ZERO protection.
.....................................

Seller pays a fee to PayPal when selling goods. You can offer to pay the $4,000. plus the fee via invoice thru PayPal.

If seller still refuses, I would walk away.

Pass on the sale, other opportunities will come along.

USAM has a "Payment Method" line item on their posted sales listings.  It is the seller's choice how they want to receive their payment.  If a cashier's check was the payment method requested by the seller, then you are welcome to ask whether they will accept another method, but you shouldn't be surprised if they say "no."  If the seller had other payment methods listed in their ad, but will now only take a cashier's check, then you have a different problem.

When purchasing a used item from an unknown seller there is no way to receive the "protections" you receive when you purchase from an authorized dealer.  When buying used, you are incurring higher risk for the benefit of paying a lower price.  If you cannot accept the risk, then purchase from a dealer. 

Buying used speakers carries more risk than buying other gear used IMO, because the condition of speakers is more likely to be disputed due to small dings etc. that may be a big deal to some but not to others, and also because of their sensitivity to shipping damage.  Without the assurances that come with positive feedback, your perceived risk increases with respect to how the seller would handle issues such as insurance coverage, a return related to shipping damage, or other potential conflicts that go along with buying used gear.  The risk is less for the seller since they already have your money. 

Audiogon's long-time feedback process and documentation can provide greater perceived protection (that you are dealing with a trustworthy individual), and IMO (regardless of what some say) PayPal does offer some protection from fraud and goods that are not as-advertised - not perfect but better than a cashier's check.

I had the same experience. The person was a genuine first timer all was good. The second time not so good.
After that I have learned to walk away.
If you can pick them up and give them a listen ,you decide. If not hold onto your cash and wait for another pair

Don't be a Rube.  This deal stinks of a rip off.