Best way to ship samples ?

I would like to check the quality of an item from 10 different suppliers. what is the most cost effective and headache free way to do this ?

Some people say use suppliers express shipping accounts and you wont deal with customs. But i will have to pay the shipping cost 10 times.

Did any one use mail forwarding services ? can i make them all ship to a mail forwarding agent in china and get it all in one international shipment ? Any experiences with this ?