GLS Says 'Parcel Not Yet Handed Over': Tracking Your Steam Machine Order in the UK

You ordered a Steam Machine. You got the shipping confirmation, clicked the GLS tracking link, and found this:

That was three days ago. It still says the same thing. Refreshing it has become a hobby.

We're a game night site, not a logistics site, but several of us ordered Steam Machines and we've all been staring at the same frozen GLS page, so here's everything we've worked out about what the status means, why GLS tracking is so bad at updating for UK orders, and a genuinely better place to check your parcel.

What "the parcel data was entered into the GLS IT system" actually means

GLS calls this status Preadvice. It means the sender created a shipping label and told GLS a parcel is coming. That's all. Nothing has been scanned. As far as the tracking system knows, your Steam Machine is still sitting in a warehouse.

In practice, one of two things is true:

• The parcel really hasn't been collected yet. During a big hardware launch, orders ship in waves, and a label can be created days before the box leaves the building.
• The parcel is already moving, and the scans just haven't reached the page you're looking at.

The second one happens more often than you'd hope, which is why the status can sit unchanged right up until the day a driver knocks on your door.

Why GLS tracking is not updating for UK orders

Steam Machine orders for the UK ship from mainland Europe, which means your parcel travels through GLS's European network, crosses the border, and gets handed to the UK network for the final leg. Every one of those steps is a different system, and the tracking link in your shipping email tends to show the least detail of any of them.

The border step adds quiet days of its own. A parcel can clear a hub, sit in an export queue, and cross into the UK while your tracking page insists it was never handed over in the first place.

The frustrating part is that the scan data usually exists. It's just not showing up on the page you were given.

A better way to get GLS tracking: gls-info.nl

Here's the fix that actually helped us: paste your parcel number into the Dutch GLS portal at gls-info.nl instead.

Same parcel number, same network, noticeably more information. Where the standard page showed us nothing but the Preadvice message, the Dutch portal listed actual scan events: arrival at a depot, in transit, handed over between networks. The page is in Dutch, but the event list is easy enough to follow, and your browser will translate it in one click.

If your parcel genuinely hasn't been scanned anywhere yet, gls-info.nl will show you that too, which at least tells you the delay is at the sender's end rather than somewhere in the GLS network.

How long does GLS take to deliver to the UK?

Once a parcel is physically scanned into the network, mainland Europe to a UK address typically takes a handful of working days. The Preadvice period before that first scan is the wildcard, and during launch weeks it can stretch longer than the delivery itself.

A rough rule that has served us well: if the status hasn't moved and no scan appears anywhere, including on the Dutch portal, after five working days, contact the shop you ordered from. Not GLS. As the recipient you're not GLS's customer, the sender is, and GLS will generally only open an investigation for them. The sender can also see internal tracking that neither portal shows.

While you wait, sort out what you're going to play

The box will turn up eventually, probably the day after you stop checking. Use the dead time to settle the harder question: what your group is actually going to play on it.

We keep a list of the best Steam Machine games to play with friends, and if your group is split across PS5, Xbox, and PC, our breakdown of Steam Machine crossplay with consoles covers who can play with whom. Or skip the reading and swipe through games on PickThe.Games, no account needed, and have the game night list ready before the driver finds your doorbell.