Ok, i solved the problem... silly really! Had to create a placeholder of the same dimensions as the ad list and insert the code using the 'replace with html' field. Then position the placeholder where i wanted it. If you don't do this, you have no idea where you've inserted the code, and you would struggle to remove it again without a visible placeholder.

What through me off originally was that there was no automatic placeholder generation (as with Adsense). Only realized afterwards that Chitika only displays search ads to USA and Canada (i'm in South Africa), and only to those who arrive at your page through search, so probably why no placeholder was generated.