Track number if sent through GSP

[heartovermind]

I purchased an item from the US two days ago.
Listing said it would be sent with GSP, import charges 0.00.
Payment total was only the price + shipping.
First time I bought an item with GSP in the listing.

For a brief time this morning there was a track # showing up in the ebay
My Purchase history - now it no longer shows.

But, I kept the track #, and it is a USPS track number saying the item
has been received through its plant and will be here Tues. Nov. 17.

The info on the USPS track page also says
"Media Mail" with USPS Tracking.

1. Does this mean the seller did not send it through GSP after all?
Should I be worried about import charges?
(Total paid, just over $60C, but item price was just under $40C,
so that is above the $20 duty-free import limit?)

2. The track # now no longer appears in the ebay My Purchase page.
What is up with that? a glitch?

3. No track number - and no other item specifics -
not the item description, ebay item number etc -
appear in the paypal page, but it does say payment sent through ebay.
Is this because the seller uses MP?

[reallynicestamps]

If it arrived in Erlanger KY, it has been received by the GSP. That's their plant.

You will get a new tracking number Real Soon Now. It will start with UPA.

Stop watching the tracking. You can't do anything about it and it will just upset you more.

Mark the last estimated date for delivery on your calendar.

If the item doesn't arrive by then, open a Not Received dispute in the Resolution Centre at the bottom of this page.

Tracking is a Seller Protection and does nothing for the buyer.

If your item is valued under $150 there is no duty for US manufactured goods.

If your item is valued under $40 there is no sales tax on your purchase.

[marnotom!]

1. The Global Shipping Program is a glorified forwarding service. The seller ships the item to a processing warehouse in Kentucky—in your case, they used Media Mail—to be sent along to its final destination via a combination of freight forwarders and local carriers. The expected delivery date you saw was for the seller-to-Kentucky leg of your item’s journey and not under the GSP’s control.

Thanks to CUSMA/USMCA, items with declared values of C$40 or less are no longer subject to tax and duty charges if they’re shipped by courier. Mail is another story. Since your item likely won’t be travelling as mail to Canada, it won’t get dinged for taxes or duty.

2. Your tracking number not showing up might be a glitch. Best place to check for it would be your email. The “UPA” tracking code that was referred to in @reallynicestamps’ excellent post should be in one of the emails you received after you paid. That’s my recollection, at least.

3. No idea why the detailed information isn’t where you’re expecting it on PayPal but your MP hypothesis is a good one. However, I concur with the point that keeping an eye on the estimated delivery dates for your item is a more useful exercise than trying to babysit it from a considerable distance. We buyers have been brainwashed into thinking that tracking is more useful to us than it actually is.

[nuvistors]

USPS will show delivered when it  arrives at Erlanger, KY.

A new tracking number will be issued when it is forwarded to Canada where it will go through Canada Customs and may be delivered by yet another carrier.

[heartovermind]

The track number for USPS now shows that it
has gotten to Erlenger KY.

Reading these threads, I might have another problem.

My shipping address for years is my reliable Shoppers-type PO Box.
The complete is
name, then PO Box XXXXX, city, prowince, postal code.
No street addr.

Reading some threads here - which could be old - this thing might get
delivered if they choose Canada Post but might not if it goes by some local courier?
Won't the company running this thing look at and say, PO Box, put it with CP?

I'm surprised the seller didn't notice there was a PO Box addr.

Why should the buyer have to know this will be a problem with a P O Box with GSP?
The buyer isn't told that at purchase.

[marnotom!]

Since the GSP seems to be using (or at least experimenting) with a number of carriers for the Canadian leg of an item’s journey, I’d say that a human being does have to look at the item’s destination address before assigning that carrier.

That said, the terms and conditions for buyers having items forwarded through the GSP state that the destination address should not be a PO Box, but I’ve also seen pages that state that Canada is an exception to this.

In my phone, when I look at the “Shipping” section of a listing for an item that’s going to be forwarded through the GSP, at the bottom below the import charges, there’s a hyperlinked “Learn More” that takes me to this information page on the GSP which mentions the PO Box condition:

https://www.ebay.ca/help/buying/postage-delivery/changing-delivery-address-method/international-purc...

Your seller would not have noticed that you have a PO Box for an address because eBay would have provided them with the shipping address for the Global Shipping Center, not your address.

[femmefan1946]

As you probably know PO boxes are the safest addresses for receiving mail.

The boxholder has a key and larger parcels are picked up at the counter after showing ID to the clerk.

However, PO clerks usually won't sign for parcels from couriers, so many sellers got the idea that box addresses are not safe.  Some couriers are now able to leave shipments at PO for boxholders.