An aluminum baking pan. Lip gloss. Sewing scissors. Every item a buck or thereabouts.

Picking through the merchandise at dollar stores can seem like a treasure hunt, but investigations by Consumer Reports researchers have turned up some dicey deals. And let the buyer beware: Dollar shops and closeout stores have become destinations for shoddy products as manufacturers have sometimes cut corners on safety, trying to meet demand for rock-bottom prices.

Among items you should think twice about purchasing if you’re shopping in one of these discount stores:

¢ Vitamins. Some multivitamins we purchased at dollar stores didn’t have one or more nutrients listed on the label. Some did not dissolve properly, so pills didn’t break down fast enough to be absorbed. Get this instead: A better buy are name brands such as Centrum or Bayer One-A-Day. In CR’s tests, those brands dissolved properly and all had the claimed nutrients. Or simply look for a label that says the product is verified by U.S. Pharmacopeia or NSF International.

¢ Electrical products. Be wary of off-price items such as Christmas lights, extension cords and fans – they could have fake labels vouching for their safety. That means the product could, for example, have undersized wiring that can overheat and cause a fire. Get this instead: Seek products certified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and other independent labs, such as Intertek ETL Semko and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), that ensure conformity to safety standards. Look for the UL hologram to ensure the certification is real. (The label generally must be tagged or embossed on the product.) You also can check the UL’s Web site, at www.ul.com, to see if a product’s brand name is certified (click on “consumers,” then “certification”).

¢ Soundalike brand names. When we visited one dollar store, investigators bought Dinacell batteries packaged to look like Duracells. The batteries later leaked acid. Counterfeit goods sometimes have names that imitate well-known brands, says Travis Brown Jr., general counsel for BuySafe, a company that guarantees online transactions. For example, a fake Louis Vuitton bag might be labeled “Louis Vitton.” Get this instead: The real stuff. You need to look closely at the packaging to make sure you’re not getting a fake.

¢ Soft vinyl lunch boxes. Several brands of soft, insulated lunch boxes – even those found at regular department stores – sometimes have tested positive for lead, which can transfer to unwrapped food and your children’s hands. The lead levels in these products alone are unlikely to be high enough to cause lead poisoning, but exposure is cumulative, so lead should be avoided whenever possible. Get this instead: To be safe, look for soft lunch boxes lined with nylon, not polyvinyl chloride, also known as PVC or vinyl.

Wherever you shop, be cautious of extraordinary bargains. Products that are far less expensive than comparable items sold elsewhere could be cheap because they’re counterfeit or otherwise defective. And avoid no-name products. A manufacturer’s name and address is no guarantee of safety, but it does mean that you or the authorities can track down a legitimate corporation to remedy problems.