From a name to a mailbox.
Four steps, and only the first one is yours to think about. Here is exactly what happens, in order, with nothing promised that the registry does not do.
How buying an address works.
Type the name you want on the registry and see what is left on each domain. Most good names are already gone — that is the point of a registry.
Open the claim page for an available address. It is held for you while you complete the purchase, and the hold has a visible countdown.
Payment is taken by Stripe. Before it goes through, the registry checks once more that the name is still unclaimed, still deliverable, and still at the price you were quoted.
The address is yours outright; a yearly renewal keeps it. The mailbox itself is opened on Google Workspace by hand, and the concierge can tell you where yours stands.
After the payment.
You get a receipt straight away, and the address appears in your account as soon as the order is recorded. The mailbox follows once it has been opened on Google Workspace.
Until it has been, the account says so rather than showing a green tick. If you would like to know where yours is, ask — that is what the concierge is for.