Crossing the border for Black Friday shopping? Follow these tips

Canada's border services agency released a list of tips to help Manitoba Black Friday shoppers avoid problems when coming back into the country.

Travellers should probably usethe Emerson crossing, which is open 24 hours, seven days a week and has capacity to process the most people at peak times.

"Border-savvy travellers choose to cross in the morning, as weekend lineups tend to build during the afternoon and evening," the Canadian Border Services Agency said in a news release.

The CanBorder app provides information about border wait times.

People going across and coming back in the same day don't get any personal exemptions and need to pay duty and taxes. You can bring back $200 worth of products duty-free if you stayed at least 24 hours, and $800 if you stayed at least 48 hours.

The CBSA website can estimate what travellers owe.

Make sure you add up the total amount of your purchases and have the receipts ready.

Wait until you're across the border to wrap any gifts, because border agents might need to unwrap them before you cross.

If you bought things online, anything worth more than $20 will have duty applied to it. If you have parcels mailed to a post office box south of the border, open them before coming to the border and have an extra copy of the invoice. Also make sure the products are actually allowed in Canada.