Hello 'ohydnas',
Sometimes barcodes help the sellers know where the package is, depending on whether or not the buyer paid for tracking. On cheap-o items sent First Class the most it will reveal is when it left the sorting facility.
It's basically a routing code, and in that bar information is where it left (seller's zipcode) and where it's going (your info). There may be separate barcodes for delivery confirmation and such, plus Canada Post may add theirs as well on this side of the border. It's for their information, not the seller's or yours. Items with real tracking can be followed here in the US:
https://www.usps.com/
and when they get over the border, here:
http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/track/personal/findByTrackNumber?execution=e1s1
Now what I'm wondering is what you mean when you say 'often times your packages do not come'. Things don't get lost in the mail, and certainly nothing so big as a parcel. Items coming up from the US sent First Class usually take 2-3 weeks to arrive, but can take longer. But if you have only paid for First Class postage, there is no tracking number. A lot of grief would be spared, along with some of those false 'not received' claims, if that option was deleted.
If you genuinely do not receive a parcel, - and you have just over 6 weeks to file a claim, then what to do is explained here:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/item-not-received.html
If after 4 weeks you have no parcel, contact the seller. If need be, file a claim no later than day 43 from when you paid, and do not close the claim for any reason whatsoever until you have either your money in your hand or your item.
You have 45 days from when you paid, and that's lots of time. It's mail order, - the reasonable thing to do is wait for the item to show up.
