Hi Alester, happy I was able to help :)
There are other Merchant options available of course, but you have to be very careful with payment options you offer customers. PayPal have done an exceptional marketing job worldwide in convincing online buyers that they offer the premium safe online payment option and every survey of online shoppers I've seen strongly indicates that one of the top points of concern with those shoppers is knowing their payment is safe.
So it's a kind of join the dots the dots type of problem. Will your sales be effected by not offering the worlds most widely respected payment gateway as an option for them to purchase. In my opinion, that's a very big possibility that you would need to consider.
I can't really help with advice on the card question, it's not something I have any personal experience with or something I have never researched. However, I do know someone that does use a PayPal card, so I'll have a word with him and see if he can share some helpful advice with you on that topic.
Cheers