Kansas (KS) or Kentucky (KY)?
If the latter, you purchased an item from a seller who uses the Global Shipping Program.
The seller ships to Kentucky and the GSP plant, where it goes on a truck to Canada under bond, is transferred to Canada Post (or sometimes CanPar) and ends up with you.
There is no delay for duty and sales tax at the border because that was covered by the Import Fee you paid along with shipping and the purchase price.
But if the seller is sending directly to you via UPS, then all that is happening is that UPS uses a hub-and-spoke system of routing packages.
From the KS terminal, your parcel goes on a truck and is transferred to UPS Canada. The duty and sales taxes along with a (substantial) service fee will be collected on your doorstep before your purchase is handed over.
Tax and possibly duty is applicable by the Canadian government on any import valued over $20 CDN (about $16USD).
If you still have to phone eBay remember that the evenings and weekends are mostly covered by the Phillipine call centre where English is a second language (or even third) but they understand that there are other countries in the world besides the USA. During 9-5/ M-F you will get Utah, where they speak English, but are a little more vague on geography.
