How do I know if ebay actually promoted my listing or just charged me for it???
You don't. Not really. But I've had items sell that were in my PL campaign, yet the item sold as a non-PL (buyer clicked on it when it was shown organically). Either way, I just accept it , and move on.
And where did the pls % of 9.0 come from ???
You partially answered your own question right here: " i recently tried promoted listings standard with automate suggested ad rates with no cap. "
You didn't place a cap on it, so it could have been even higher than 9%. When I run the auto campaign, I ALWAYS place a cap on it that I'm comfortable with. If you don't want to pay more than 5%, then cap your campaign at 5%. (Of course, you might get fewer sales)
The other part of the answer is also right there: i recently tried promoted listings standard with automate suggested ad rates
With the auto campaign with suggested ad rates, your ad rate can vary daily, depending on what ad rate ebay suggests (suggestions are based on what rate ebay's algo is seeing from other sellers for similar items). You have two levers to control this: the cap, as I mentioned, and the fact that you can instruct ebay to use the suggested ad rate, but add (or subtract) a certain percentage from it.
And finally, you can (I think) disregard the suggested rate entirely, and just go with a flat rate for everything.
Trading cards is a very competitive category, so 9% doesn't really surprise me. I sell in a variety of categories, and 2 or 3% as not been unusual for some, but they aren't as competitive.
No, I don't actually raise my prices for the campaign. That's an individual seller decision, based on your margins. However, when I set my prices originally, I do it with the recognition that I might use PL, or I might run a discount sale at some point, or take a best offer. So on most (not all) things I've built in some wiggle room.
