On whether or not you are concerned about a paper trail or not. Too, some don't wish to give out credit card numbers to businesses if they don't deal with them regularly etc.
                                                                                                          Regards.......RR

I don't have anyone looking over my shoulder or snooping through my records.

1) Discovery by significant other

2) Financial fraud where your card is used in subsequent fraudulent transactions

3) LE tying your credit card to TER and trying build some type of case

I'm single so don't worry about #1 and yes, I pay by credit card.  The risk of #2 is the same for every use of a credit card and not just due to TER membership.  Mitigate by checking your monthly statement (as usual) and protesting any fraudulent charges with your card's bank.

As for #3, I won't say it could never happen, but at least in the US there's a freedom of speech and freedom to associate.  The links LE would have to build are tenuous at best, and would be a tremendous waste of resources since it would likely be thrown out.  However, if you're a political candidate or have significant assets the government is interested in controlling then you might want to reconsider using a card - and perhaps the hobby altogether unless you have a handler to take the fall from the smear campaign.

One note on credit card use: notify your card issuer before the transaction so they don't flag & stop an international transaction as fraudulent.  You don't have to say who you're planning to buy from, but instead put in a "travel alert" on your card for a couple of days so you have a window to complete the purchase.

I was useing a visa vanilla gift card to pay for everything. Never had any issues and they have a way you can just keep charges if you need to. Don't get a green dot, I had issues with them now processing payments outside the US

I used Bitcoin this time, and am satisfied with the process.  Yes, TER accepts Bitcoin!
Around here (SoBaySF) it's easy to get Bitcoin for cash with good anonymity and decent safety.

There is a bid/ask spread, so I end up paying a few more $ than TER's quoted $ rate, though.  

Just don't sit on your Bitcoins if you're only using them for this; the exchange rate fluctuates daily and may move against you.  I get the coins and do the TER transaction within minutes so that doesn't affect me.  You need to read and follow the TER procedure for Bitcoin signup; it's easy but differs from CC or MO procedures.
 

(for purposes of paying for VIP level) Yesterday I went to 2 banks, and the Post office. Results? Both banks require an account to issue a money order and the Post Office does not have Germany listed as a country in which their International MO will be accepted.

My first inclination was an anonymous visa/mc, but as you all know, the back side of the card packaging reads "works only in the US"

The greed dots are like a hybrid that required identifying info such as name and social in order to load value.

What am I missing here?

I did see that AAA sells Travel Visa prepaids which are intended to work overseas but I don't know if this will work when transacted from US to Overseas