I've never used paypal before and I've heard not-so-good stories about so is there a way for me to register my group with a credit/visa/debit/etc. card?
paypal is only our e-commerce provider. You can use a CC/debit without creating a paypal account.
oh. so paypal is just something that takes the money using the credit card no.s but its not its own credit card or whatever rite?
Correct. It's just a way to pay for things online without giving the sites your personal info and like ewu said you don't need an account for fanime.
Good luck!