Have not received three items purchased in October from 3 different US sellers using the GSP.

[flanker388]

In October I made 3 separate Buy Now purchases from three different sellers in two different US states (California and Texas). Shipping was to BC, Canada.  They were old videogames totaling about $165 CAD.  All three sellers used the Global Shipping Program.  Based on the tracking, all three packages arrived at the Global Shipping Center and were processed quickly.  The last status of each one is "Shipped from the Global Shipping Center to International Destination." 

The items didn't arrive by the expected delivery dates in November, but I wasn't too concerned. Between COVID delays and the Christmas online delivery rush I knew there would be delays. Finally in early January I investigated and learned that I missed the 30-day money-back guarantee window. OK, that's on me. Now I know about it. Of the three sellers, one was nice and offered to wait. The other two said that "it's on the way" and that I should wait. One referred the ticket to eBay Customer Service who closed the ticket stating that I was not eligible for a refund...even though I never asked for a refund.

I find it odd that 3 different items, from 3 different sellers didn't make it to me. It seems statistically unlikely that this is the result of 3 independent events. And I'd think that if a delivery truck burned down or was stolen that eBay could update the status of the items to something other than "It's on the  way."  But maybe I'm giving them too much credit.

I spoke to eBay Customer Service today to see if there was anything they could do and the very nice fellow said there was nothing.  He suggested that I go through my Visa and stop payment...but I don't know how well that would fly since the charge was from nearly 4 months ago.

I get that international shipping is complex and sometimes things go wrong and items get lost or destroyed. I'd be willing to write off one lost item as bad luck...but the fact that all three of my items were not delivered makes me feel that something happened to a delivery truck or something like that. The most frustrating thing is that there is no tracking after it is done at the Global Shipping Center.

At this point I've figured out that I'm out of luck on this one but wanted to rant and thought maybe someone would have some suggestions.

Final note: I have purchased many similar items over the last year, both from within Canada and from the USA. Most of the US deliveries used the Global Shipping Program and had no issues (other than the cost to ship some items). So it's not an address issue or anything like that. We were home all the time and have cameras; the items were not delivered.  For now, I'm limiting my purchases to Canadian sellers.

[reallynicestamps]

Statistically unlikely but not impossible.

If they made it to Erlanger KY, they might even still be there, under a table or at the bottom of a pile that will eventually be sent to Uzbekistan.

In any case, while you are no longer eligible to Dispute on eBay, you have 180 days from payment to Dispute through Paypal.

The PP Resolution Centre is at  the top of your PP account page under Tools.

When you open it, you may find a suggestion that you contact the seller. Since the items were accepted by the GSP the seller is no longer responsible or involved.

Ignore that and open the Dispute.

Be sure to note that this was shipped via GSP, although I am told that the system will automatically route your Dispute that way.

If the GSP cannot show Delivery (not shipping, delivery) you will be refunded.

And, small bonus.

If the items actually finally get to you, GSP doesn't care. The cost of the refund was covered by their insurance.

The most frustrating thing is that there is no tracking after it is done at the Global Shipping Center.

There is.

But it sounds as if your items never left the plant.

no issues (other than the cost to ship some items).

A double whammy here.

Not only are you paying import fees in advance to cover Canadian duty and sales taxes, but many US sellers will use International Priority shipping rather than the slightly cheaper First Class International Package to Canada.

Canada charges duty on items valued over $150Cdn and sales taxes on items valued over $40Cdn.

For now, I'm limiting my purchases to Canadian sellers.

And on behalf of all Canadian sellers, I will thank you for that.

[marnotom!]

Where have you been getting your tracking information?

Sometimes the GSP tracking information from Pitney Bowes is more complete than what you’ll get from “My eBay” or email updates.

Have your UPAA numbers handy and head to:

https://tracking.pb.com or https://parceltracking.pb.com

If your items are still in Pitney Bowes’ GSP database, there should be an option to track them on the Canadian carrier’s website, just below the “progress meter” near the top of the screen.

Let us know if you get more info.

By the way, PayPal gives you 180 calendar days from the purchase date to file claims for non-received items, something you should keep in mind.

[flanker388]

I have checked all three on Pitney Bowes and they all have the exact same final tracking info as I get through eBay: 

• Shipped from the Global Shipping Center to International Destination
• Erlanger, Kentucky, US

It is interesting that two of the items were processed during the same minute. The third item was several days later.

Thank-you for your response.  I will comment about the PayPal note in the other comment.

Thanks!

[flanker388]

Thank-you for your detailed and helpful response. Taking the time out of your day to help a random internet stranger is appreciated.

EDIT: I thought that I was using my Visa directly to pay eBay, but I just looked at my VISA account and they all say PayPal.  I did go onto my PayPal account but the only transactions I see on PayPal are money transfers made for purchases outside of eBay.  I am investigating now.

I always try to buy Canadian, however I collect old videogames and at this point I'm seeking out rare variants so when one pops-up I will often buy it, no matter the location.  It will be interesting to see what I do when the next rare items turns up that is in the US.  I have in the past had items shipped to a relative in Oregon because we went there every year, but with COVID we didn't go last year and I don't know when we will be able to go again.

Thanks again.

[snoopwiz]

A bit of a long shot but at times the folks at eBay Facebook have been known to be of help.  Give it a shot, see what happens.  Wishing you well. 

[femmefan1946]

I thought that I was using my Visa directly to pay eBay, but I just looked at my VISA account and they all say PayPal.

Yes. EBay does not deal with payments, they go through Paypal .

Even the new Managed Payments (it's a Seller thing, don't worry about it) allows payment through Paypal although their actual processor is Ayden.

It can be confusing, especially since they give neither the seller's name nor the venue's name.

[flanker388]

So I dug through my Visa bills. I never really looked at the details before. 

Of the three purchases in question, my Visa bill for one says "EBAY" and has the eBay Order number.  On my Visa, this looks like any normal purchase from the US, it has the TOTAL charge, and shows the exchange rate.

The other two items are different. There are two charges for each purchase. One that aligns with the "Paid to Seller" cost that I see on eBay and has this text "PAYPAL *SALEBAY81 EBAY 4029357733 ON" and "PAYPAL *JETTRACINGS EB 4029357733 ON".  The other is aligned to the "Paid to third party shipping provider" that I see on eBay and has "PAYPAL *GLOBALSHIP EBAY 4029357733 CT". 

OK, so they split up the cost of the item and the shipping/fees. Fine. These charges are in CAD, not USD.  There is no order number or item number so I had to calculate the exchange rates myself to be sure which charge goes to which purchase. I see eBay (or is it PayPal?) charges 4% on the exchange.

Now I know what the charges are on my VISA and I can see 4 of the 5 say "PAYPAL" at the start. The thing is, I cannot find any of these on my PayPal account. From eBay I can select My Account -> My PayPal Account and from there select "See your PayPal History" which takes me to my PayPal account.  However, here I only see money transfers I made for non-eBay purchases. None of my eBay purchases appear.  I have changed the start date to cover the range of these (and other) eBay purchases and none of them show up.  

Perhaps I'm missing something obvious.  I can see that my VISA has 4 charges to PAYPAL but I can't see any of these on my PayPal account.

[pjcdn2005]

When you use your credit card, do you first sign into Paypal?  If you don't..Paypal still processes the credit cards but they aren't associated with your account.  You really should contact your credit card company.

[marnotom!]

Back to the tracking info for a moment, can you confirm for me that there was no clickable/tapable link (located below the “progress meter”) to the assigned Canadian carrier’s tracking page?

[flanker388]

No, when I click Buy Now on eBay it goes straight through, I do not log in to PayPal.

I did chat with PayPal Customer Service today and their first suggestion was that I did all of my eBay transactions as a PayPal Guest.  Which would make sense why my eBay purchases don't show up on my PayPal account.  If that means I'm not covered by PayPal then I will go through my VISA tomorrow.

[flanker388]

Definitely not.  When I click "+ Show shipping details" I get text saying "It's on the way." and then the progress meter which only has the first one filled in (Shipped Mon Oct 19).  The In Transit is bold, but the rest are grey.  If I click "See full tracking history" below that I can see where the seller used USPS to send the item to ebay's Global Shipping Center in Erlanger, Kentucky and then it spends 12 hours there before the final update just says "Shipped from the Global Shipping Center to International Destination".  I'll see if I can attach a screenshot.

[marnotom!]

Interesting.  The presentation of your tracking page is considerably different than the one I got with the PB "parceltracking" site:

In any event, the net result is the same: no further scan information after the item departed Erlanger and no link to click below the "progress meter".

You're in British Columbia.  There were a few posts toward the end of last year about issues BC eBayers were having with a Canadian carrier contracted out by the GSP (Apple Express) and some other posts suggested there was some confusion about the "last mile" carrier--was it Purolator or DHL?

In any event, even with COVID taken into account, four months is a ridiculously long time to be waiting for these items.  I'd start taking steps to getting a refund for these transactions and see what happens in the meantime.  Sorry I can't be more encouraging.

[flanker388]

Thank-you for your suggestions and follow-up. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.  

SUMMARY: After realizing that the items were unusually late, I contacted the sellers who said I should wait and closed the tickets.  I discovered that I had missed the 30-day eBay money back guarantee so I contacted eBay who said there was nothing they could do. They suggested I contact my credit card company. At the suggestion of this forum I contacted PayPal but it looks like I processed these transactions as a PayPal guest, not with the PayPal account that is linked to my eBay account (I'll make sure in the future). Oddly, PayPal support ended our chat with a generic, "Try to resolve with the seller or else raise a dispute ticket" - which, of course, I can't because the transactions don't show up in my PayPal account.

So, I contacted my RBC Visa rep and they were very helpful.  They have a 115 day policy for disputes, but luckily they apply it from the date when the items were supposed to arrive.  The representative took all my info, said the disputes qualified and I'll find out in 10 weeks or so.  Side note: I have only had a handful of occasions to deal with RBC Visa customer support in the 25 years that I've been a client and every single interaction with them I've ever had has been excellent. 

If I remember (and it's not locked) I'll update this thread with the FINAL resolution. But, either way, I think I've exhausted my options and I hope RBC Visa can come through.

Thanks again for the help.

[bearlover69]

Without reading the post... GSP says Trouble to me.
 Recently I've had a Great Buying Experience - from a Canadian Seller whom used ChitChats. 


 There's Cheaper and Better Alternatives - ChitChats is one...!

[bearlover69]

I Beg to Differ with your comment
"Canada charges duty on items valued over $150Cdn and sales taxes on items valued over $40Cdn"
I was Chaged Sales Tax on an Order for CAN$25.25 which was within Canada (ON - N.S.)