Just for anyone randomly stumbling upon this thread: make sure to throroughly check the picture of a listing. Look for LSI cards specifically. They have been purchased by 2-3 other companies, but you absolutrly need to do your research to make sure the manufacturer badge on the card is one of those companies. Don’t just trust the title of the listing

On your point about SAS cards, some sellers will post “IT Mode” in their product listing even if the card can never be flashed to IT mode. I know because it happened to me