I bought a 9600K described only as 'QRNE' without realizing it was an engineering sample labelled 'confidential' on the processor itself.
Intel's support tech confirmed that these days, unlike before, companies are indeed allowed to sell such CPUs, only with the proviso they can't claim to provide Intel's manufacturer warranty (and the seller didn't).
The price was just under the typical bottom of the price range for barely used 9600K, or alternatively what ES units have been priced in the past. So it was fairly priced for an ES, just that the seller omitted to specify that it was an ES, instead making it look like just another plausible bargain on a regular 9600K.
The seller has already instructed his bank to refund me and instructed me to keep the processor, which I of course can't do because it would be quite dishonourable. So do I want to accept the refund and send the processor back (cross-border shipment, say twenty bucks or so), or do I want to keep the processor and return the refund?
In other words, are 'confidential' QRNE units consistent with 'normal' 9600K and thus 'safe' for business use (not an act of negligence) or not?
I have no time to test it thoroughly. Several hours of hands-off Prime 95 or a run or two of 3D Mark is the max I can do, and I'd rather not have to I literally can't spare the time or attention/stress investment before 17 June (basically working 2 shifts Monday to Saturday), hence keeping the money and buying a warrantied CPU would be convenient, and I could delay the sending back of the 'Confidential' CPU to the seller by a week or two without much issue.
But as a last-minute thought, if QRNEs are generally accepted as normal 9600Ks (it seems even high-end OEMs use them as such without even letting the buyers know that something is different about the CPU), then perhaps I should keep it?