I recently entered at swampy with my third METV in as many years. No issues. I always use a fast track immigration service. No idea if that makes a diff (other than convenience, of course.)
No problem as such. I was told 7-11 had some sort of poster where you could attach them for other people to collect. Haven't been able to spot that yet :)
You can also look at something like booking.com. There are plenty options where you can cancel before any transaction actually occurs. I'm sure you can just show a week or two booked. Perhaps you can email the embassy and find out.