Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

saneboy
Community Member

I'm a Canadian buyer.  I've been on eBay for almost 20 years.  I have two US purchases that I'm currently waiting for delivery on.  One was received at the KY depot 3 days ago and has not moved since. I could easily have driven to pick up the package and it would have been faster.  Worse still is that there is no one to complain to for situations like this.  No contact info on ebay for GSP inquiries.  No accountability period.

 

This is not an isolated event either.  My last US purchase sat in KY for 2 days before moving on.  USPS always did a better job than the current GSP program. 

 

Most of my purchases are small (<$100 US).  There are normally no tariffs on such small transactions, but I'm charged up front just the same for import charges.  Therefore it's reasonable to think that someone if pocketing this money.

 

From now on, I'll only do business with individuals or companies on ebay that do not participate in GSP.  Maybe ebay will get the message someday.

 

So frustrated.

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

One was received at the KY depot 3 days ago and has not moved since.

 

Over the weekend? The GSP plant does seem to be a low-staffed on weekends.

But the date was the last time it was recorded, and that may be on its way out the door, not sitting in a pile.

Or they may be waiting to fill the next truck to Canada,where it will probably be handed over to Canada Post.

 

Another poster worked this out for buyers who have not yet received their GSP shipment.
TRACKING SYSTEM FOR GSP
It's not user friendly... But I found how to track your package via the global shipping program, once it gets to Canada you need to:
- Log on to eBay.ca
- Under the My eBay menu select Purchase History
- Under your orders find the specific order.  It should have something like the following:
        Estimated delivery Mon, Jan 11 - Thu, Jan 21
        Tracking number: Tracking number UPAAB000000#########
- Click on the UPA number.  This should open up a Shipment Details window, which should contain something like this:
     This shipment has been transferred to CPC for delivery to the final destination # 70351#########
-Click on the Canada Post number to see where the Canada Post Tracking history and expected delivery
 

And there is this method too (originally posted by unison)


I found this thread today while awaiting a shipment. Once I learned that Pitney Bowes was the relevant company, I was able to find my package's tracking info in about 10 seconds.
 
Step 1: Go to the Pitney Bowes Parcel Tracker page at https://parceltracking.pb.com/app/#/dashboard/
 
Step 2: Enter your eBay-supplied Global Tracking number (mine began with UPAA...)
 
Step 3: You will be shown limited tracking info. In my case, only up to the point the package left the USA and entered Canada.
 
Step 4: Click on the "Track on carrier's website" link at the top right.
 
Step 5: You will be provided with tracking on the page of the actual shipping company, in my case Canada Post, with a tracking number in THEIR system.
 
Problem solved! If only eBay would put a link to https://parceltracking.pb.com/app/#/dashboard/ in their shipping emails, this could all be avoided...
 

View solution in original post

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"


@saneboy wrote:

Most of my purchases are small (<$100 US).  There are normally no tariffs on such small transactions, but I'm charged up front just the same for import charges.  Therefore it's reasonable to think that someone if pocketing this money.

 


In fact, all purchases over CAD $20 are subject to taxes and import fees. You were just lucky if you never had to pay them in the past.

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

marnotom!
Community Member

@saneboy wrote:

I'm a Canadian buyer.  I've been on eBay for almost 20 years.  I have two US purchases that I'm currently waiting for delivery on.  One was received at the KY depot 3 days ago and has not moved since. I could easily have driven to pick up the package and it would have been faster.  Worse still is that there is no one to complain to for situations like this.  No contact info on ebay for GSP inquiries.  No accountability period.

 

This is not an isolated event either.  My last US purchase sat in KY for 2 days before moving on.  USPS always did a better job than the current GSP program. 

 


Are you concerned that your items won't arrive within the timeframe specified on the listing page?

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

One was received at the KY depot 3 days ago and has not moved since.

 

Over the weekend? The GSP plant does seem to be a low-staffed on weekends.

But the date was the last time it was recorded, and that may be on its way out the door, not sitting in a pile.

Or they may be waiting to fill the next truck to Canada,where it will probably be handed over to Canada Post.

 

Another poster worked this out for buyers who have not yet received their GSP shipment.
TRACKING SYSTEM FOR GSP
It's not user friendly... But I found how to track your package via the global shipping program, once it gets to Canada you need to:
- Log on to eBay.ca
- Under the My eBay menu select Purchase History
- Under your orders find the specific order.  It should have something like the following:
        Estimated delivery Mon, Jan 11 - Thu, Jan 21
        Tracking number: Tracking number UPAAB000000#########
- Click on the UPA number.  This should open up a Shipment Details window, which should contain something like this:
     This shipment has been transferred to CPC for delivery to the final destination # 70351#########
-Click on the Canada Post number to see where the Canada Post Tracking history and expected delivery
 

And there is this method too (originally posted by unison)


I found this thread today while awaiting a shipment. Once I learned that Pitney Bowes was the relevant company, I was able to find my package's tracking info in about 10 seconds.
 
Step 1: Go to the Pitney Bowes Parcel Tracker page at https://parceltracking.pb.com/app/#/dashboard/
 
Step 2: Enter your eBay-supplied Global Tracking number (mine began with UPAA...)
 
Step 3: You will be shown limited tracking info. In my case, only up to the point the package left the USA and entered Canada.
 
Step 4: Click on the "Track on carrier's website" link at the top right.
 
Step 5: You will be provided with tracking on the page of the actual shipping company, in my case Canada Post, with a tracking number in THEIR system.
 
Problem solved! If only eBay would put a link to https://parceltracking.pb.com/app/#/dashboard/ in their shipping emails, this could all be avoided...
 

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

I'm concerned that my item hasn't moved (or that tracking hasn't been updated) in since June 12th.  The package has been sitting idle longer than it was travelling.

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

Thanks for this!

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

I'm aware that duties are due, but in my experience, if the item is under $100, the import charge is normally ignored.  Not always, but most of the time.

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

Fortunately, it is easy to avoid the Global Shipping Program and sellers in the UK and USA who use it.

 

One way is to limit your Search results to Canada Only at left. If you buy from a fellow Canadian, no additional duty or taxes on import will be due.

 

Screen Shot 2017-06-15 at 5.16.42 PM.png

 

The other way is to do your Searches on a desktop computer and sort the results via List View (as opposed to Gallery) and avoid the ones with this identifier:

 

Screen Shot 2017-06-15 at 5.19.06 PM.png

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"


@saneboy wrote:


I'm concerned that my item hasn't moved (or that tracking hasn't been updated) in since June 12th.  The package has been sitting idle longer than it was travelling.


I suspect Pitney Bowes (administrators of the Global Shipping Program would counter this by pointing out that if your item reaches you within the timeframe specified on the listing page, it doesn't really matter when or how it moves.  The buyer presumably agrees to that timeframe when they purchased the item.

I've only purchased two items through the program (mobile phones are a lot cheaper to ship through the GSP than some fancy-pants tracked shipping method that may see me paying crazy processing/clearance charges in addition to taxes upon receipt) but my experience and what I've read from others on this board is that GSP items aren't particularly well-tracked between the Kentucky shipping hub and wherever they're received in Canada, which makes sense if you consider that they're loaded onto a freight shipment with other items with the same Canadian destination.

 

The item moves and gets where it's supposed to go when it moves and gets where it's supposed to go.  I no longer keep a close eye on the tracking of most of the stuff I buy, because it doesn't change the fact that I haven't received my item and doesn't change how quickly I receive it.

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"


@saneboy wrote:

I'm aware that duties are due, but in my experience, if the item is under $100, the import charge is normally ignored.  Not always, but most of the time.


Only for items sent by mail.  GSP items don't travel between Kentucky and Mississauga (or whatever other Canadian receiving hubs are used) by mail.  You've obviously not had the misfortune of having had items shipped by UPS Ground or FedEx Ground, where not only taxes (and duty, if applicable) can be calculated and collected, but all manner of crazy clearance and processing charges get slapped on as well.

 

My wife and I started out on eBay around the same time you did, and for the first few years, about two-thirds of our mailed purchases from the US and UK were assessed taxes by CBSA.  That dropped considerably in the mid 2000s.

One of our purchases (an antique pocket watch that my wife purchased as a gift for me) even had the declared value ignored and the CBSA agent who inspected it based our taxes due on what they felt was the watch's higher market value.

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

but in my experience, if the item is under $100, the import charge is normally ignored.

 

Workers and management at CBSA and Canada Post, have made the sensible (if somewhat illegal) decision to ignore the $20 duty-free import maximum probably because it costs them more in wages than they could possibly collect on a $20 item.

They can do this because they are the enforcers of the rules.

Private companies can't do that.

And to get an idea of how much clearing a shipment costs, UPS charges $25 or more for Customs Brokerage. (That would include a profit but still, those public servants are saving taxpayers money.)

 

So most Canadians don't realize that the duty free is only $20 CDN (about $16USD)

 

Even there, most import charges are mostly sales taxes (HST/GST/PST) and not duty.

 

The GSP also adds a service charge of ~$5 -- half of what Canada Post does.

 

 

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

So after nearly a week, (June 12 - 18) my item went from "arrived at global shipping center" to "customs declaration and labeling".  I had mistakenly thought that the package was being labelled sometime around June 12, but that was incorrect.  From what I can tell, it still hasn't left their depot in Kentucky.  This only happened after I called eBay and sent an email to PB asking for an update.  My package definitely wasn't processed properly. 

 

From now on, I'll only deal with sellers that will ship to Canada via USPS (UPS, Fedex and most other couriers are out due to their high brokerage charges).  I won't buy from a seller that uses GSP in the future due their frequent mishandling of shipments.

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

What did you buy? Often when an item makes it to there GSP hub and no further, it's because the seller was trying to export something on the list of prohibited or restricted items for Canada. 

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

It was a piece of computer gear.  It's nothing I haven't purchased many times before.  I have another item that shipped with GSP a few days after this item, and the process appears to be repeating.  I guess this falls into the "fool me twice" category.

 

I could totally understand if it was a prohibited item, but they're not.  Seem like staffing level problems in Kentucky, incompetence, apathy, or some combination of these.  This is just my opinion of course.

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"


@saneboy wrote:

It was a piece of computer gear.  It's nothing I haven't purchased many times before.  I have another item that shipped with GSP a few days after this item, and the process appears to be repeating.  I guess this falls into the "fool me twice" category.

 

I could totally understand if it was a prohibited item, but they're not.  Seem like staffing level problems in Kentucky, incompetence, apathy, or some combination of these.  This is just my opinion of course.


Those are reasonable hypotheses, but also consider that a big problem with the Global Shipping Program is that sellers often don't provide Pitney Bowes with enough information on the item for it to work with (especially the item's country of origin) which means that Global Shipping Center employees have to go through extra steps to get it processed for shipping out of the country.

Also consider that the item travels as part of a freight shipment between Kentucky and Mississauga (or wherever it's received in Canada).  There may be a slight delay as whoever's shipping it out waits for a truck or pallet to fill up with items with the same general destination.

 

Personally, if an item is promised to me in ten to twelve business days, it doesn't matter to me where or how it sits around as long as it reaches me in the promised delivery time.  Then again, I'm a bit old school and I still remember the days when we'd order stuff from catalogues or magazines where buyers were told to "allow 3-6 weeks for delivery".  And this was within North America.


With shipping costs rising, I think you're going to find more instances on eBay and elsewhere of shipments getting consolidated to save costs.  While mail and freight consolidation is cheaper than conventional mail or courier, the trade-off is a slower shipping time.  My wife recently purchased a CD from an independent American seller on another well-known e-commerce site.  It was shipped through a mail consolidator and took eleven calendar days to travel from Los Angeles to Vancouver Island.  I suspect this sort of delivery time for an item from the US is unheard of for you folks in central Canada, and it's a bit longer than what I generally see for items shipped directly through the mail.  But still, I think you should be prepared for stuff like this happening even if you stick with sellers who claim to ship using USPS.

 

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

I'm suspecting that for some reason the Kentucky centre is somewhat backed up.  I've also had a package sitting there since June 12.  This is the longest delay I've seen, although I have had a couple where they sat for four or five days.  With yours finally moving today, I'm hopeful that maybe mine will make the move to Customs and Labelling too.  Mine is a book, so nothing which should cause any problems, as I've had many shipped through there over the past few years.  Not really a fan of the program, as I find it slow, but at least it is fairly comparable in price with USPS after USPS jacked their prices.

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Re: Multi day delay for GSP items for "labelling"

And yes, mine did indeed make the move to Customs and Labelling today.  It was a relief, as it was received by them back on June 12.  Providing there are no more delays, it actually has a chance of just squeaking in here before the latest due date.  Definitely relieved, as it is an almost 95 year old book which is difficult to find with a dust jacket. 

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