# Why are my purchased mailboxes still pending?

> Mailboxes bought through Reply sit on Pending while provisioning runs, during a Microsoft lock, after a domain conflict, or when a confirmation never arrived.

**Usually provisioning is still running; the first mailbox of an order normally appears within two to five minutes, but the whole order can take up to 48 hours. Past that window the common reasons are a confirmation from the provider that never reached Reply, a Microsoft mailbox inside its four-day post-purchase lock, and a domain that is already tied to a workspace or tenant somewhere else.**

_Status: Reviewed – written against Reply's product documentation on 2026-09-22, not yet confirmed against the running product._

## Quick fix

1. Work out how long it has been. Under 48 hours is inside the normal window, however little has appeared so far.
2. If the order was for Microsoft mailboxes, expect the first four days after creation to be a locked period. Mailboxes from a pre-warmed package are not locked.
3. Check that the domain you ordered is not already in use with a Google Workspace or Microsoft tenant of your own. A domain claimed elsewhere cannot be provisioned.
4. Judge the order as a whole rather than one mailbox at a time; the parts of an order arrive as they become ready, not together.
5. Past 48 hours, contact support with the domain and the date you ordered. Do not re-order: a second order is a second charge, and it does not unblock the first.

Didn't work? [Contact Reply support](https://support.reply.io/); the team can check your account directly.

## Symptom

An order you paid for shows mailboxes marked Pending. They cannot be used for sending, no error appears anywhere on screen, and nothing indicates whether the order is progressing or has stopped.

## What you can buy, and how the two kinds differ

You can buy sending domains and mailboxes inside Reply rather than going to a registrar yourself. There are two kinds of purchase, and they behave differently from this point on:

- **A domain you register new.** Reply registers the domain, creates the mailboxes you asked for and configures their DNS. Mailboxes bought this way start cold and need warming like any newly created mailbox.
- **A pre-warmed package.** One domain and exactly three mailboxes, taken from a pool the provider has already been warming, with sender names already assigned. They arrive ready to send, with no warm-up setup required from you.

Two rules about pre-warmed packages catch people out:

- The package is bought and cancelled as **one unit**. You cannot remove one of the three mailboxes, and a fourth cannot be added to the package.
- Nothing can be added to a ready-warmed domain later. An **ordinary** purchased domain is different: it holds up to **five mailboxes**, the same for every account, and you can add more to it up to that cap.

## Why an order sits on Pending

| Cause | What you see | First thing to check |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Provisioning is still running** | Nothing has failed, and part of the order may already be usable | How long ago you ordered |
| **The provider's confirmation never arrived** | Pending stays put indefinitely, with no error at any point | Whether the mailboxes already work at the provider |
| **A Microsoft mailbox is inside its post-purchase lock** | A newly created Microsoft mailbox exists but cannot be used | The creation date – the lock runs four days |
| **The domain is claimed elsewhere** | The order does not get past the domain | Whether that domain sits on a Google Workspace or Microsoft tenant you already own |
| **A pre-warmed order timed out at the provider** | Silence: no message, nothing marked as failed | Whether what you ordered was a pre-warmed package |

### 1. Provisioning is still running

Buying inside Reply hands the order to a provider that has to register the domain, create each mailbox and configure DNS for it. None of that is instant, and the pieces are delivered as they are finished rather than in one go.

The first mailbox of an order usually appears within **two to five minutes**. The rest can take up to **48 hours**. Most reports of a stuck order turn out to be well inside that window.

**How to recognize it:** you ordered less than 48 hours ago, and some of what you ordered may already be showing as active.

**What to do:** leave it. Nothing you do in the interface makes provisioning faster, and re-ordering charges you a second time for a domain the first order may be in the middle of registering.

### 2. The provider finished and the confirmation never reached Reply

An order can complete at the provider while the confirmation back to Reply is lost on the way. When that happens the order keeps its Pending state indefinitely, even though the mailboxes are live and working on the provider's side. This is current behaviour: nothing is shown to you during the purchase, and nothing afterwards.

**How to recognize it:** the order is well past 48 hours, still Pending, and nothing anywhere reports a failure.

**What to do:** contact support with the domain and the order date. The state has to be corrected from Reply's side; there is no action in the interface that clears it.

### 3. A Microsoft mailbox is inside its post-purchase lock

A Microsoft mailbox bought in the regular way is locked for its first **four days** after creation. That period is fixed and the same for every account: the mailbox exists, it is provisioned, and it is not yet available to use.

Microsoft mailboxes that come in a pre-warmed package skip this lock entirely and are usable straight away.

**How to recognize it:** the mailbox is Microsoft, it was created within the last four days, and it was not part of a pre-warmed package.

**What to do:** wait out the four days. Nothing has gone wrong and no action is needed.

### 4. The domain already belongs to a workspace or tenant elsewhere

Before taking payment, Reply checks whether the domain you are ordering is already attached to an existing Google Workspace or Microsoft tenant. A domain that is already claimed cannot be provisioned, and the order stops at that point.

One limitation is worth knowing: this pre-check is written around Google. A conflict on the Microsoft side can slip past it and surface later in the order instead of at the point of purchase: which is why an order can be accepted and then go nowhere.

**How to recognize it:** the domain is one you or your company have used before with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.

**What to do:** order a different domain. Keeping that one means releasing it at the existing provider first, which is a change on their side rather than anything Reply can do.

### 5. A pre-warmed order timed out at the provider

Pre-warmed packages are claimed from a pool the provider maintains, and that claim can time out. When it does, nothing surfaces: no message on screen, nothing marked as failed, and no internal alert either. Other kinds of order do report a timeout; pre-warmed ones currently do not, which is why they can sit silently.

**How to recognize it:** you ordered a pre-warmed package, a long time has passed, and the order is neither progressing nor failing.

**What to do:** contact support and say explicitly that it was a pre-warmed package. That detail changes how the order has to be looked up, because there is no status to read.

## Pending mailboxes still count toward your limits and your bill

A mailbox counts from the moment it exists, not from the moment it can send. **Pending, Active and Locked mailboxes all count** toward your mailbox limits and toward what you are billed for. Only deleting a mailbox takes it out of the count.

That is the practical reason to chase an order that has outlived the 48-hour window rather than leave it alone: a mailbox sitting on Pending is occupying a slot and appearing on the bill without doing any work.

## Reconnecting a mailbox you bought through Reply

Reconnection attempts on a mailbox bought through Reply are limited to **seven attempts in any seven days**, with a **60-minute cooldown** between manual attempts.

Two things on screen can mislead you here, and both are current behaviour:

- the error text states the limit as three times per week; the real limit is seven attempts per seven days
- the cooldown timer can read "0 minutes 0 seconds" while a full hour is still to run

If you hit the cooldown, count an hour from your last attempt rather than trusting the timer.

## FAQ

### How long should provisioning take?

The first mailbox of an order usually appears within two to five minutes, and the order as a whole can take up to 48 hours. Anything inside that window is normal, even if nothing has appeared yet.

### Can I add a mailbox to my pre-warmed domain?

No. A ready-warmed package is fixed at one domain and three mailboxes, and mailboxes cannot be added to that domain afterwards. If you need more sending capacity, buy another package or an ordinary domain, which holds up to five mailboxes.

### Can I cancel one of the three mailboxes on its own?

No. A pre-warmed package is cancelled as a whole. There is no way to drop one mailbox and keep the other two.

### Why does a pending mailbox still count toward my bill?

Billing follows whether a mailbox exists, not whether it is ready. Pending, Active and Locked all count; deletion is what removes a mailbox from the count.

## Still stuck? Contact Reply support

If these steps didn't solve the problem, the Reply support team can look at your
account directly. Open the [Reply Help Center](https://support.reply.io/) and send
the team a message.

To get an answer faster, include:

- the domain you ordered, and whether it was a new registration or a pre-warmed package
- the date and time you ordered, and your timezone
- whether the mailboxes are Google or Microsoft
- how many mailboxes from the order have appeared so far, and what state each is in

Don't send passwords, API keys, or access tokens.

## Related

- [Why was a mailbox disconnected?](/troubleshooting/mailbox-was-disconnected/) – a mailbox that worked and then dropped
- [Why did my domain expire or fail to renew?](/troubleshooting/domain-expired-or-renewal-failed/)
- [Limits](/reference/limits/) – mailboxes per domain and per account

## Build with Reply

- REST API: [Email accounts](https://docs.reply.io/api-reference/introduction) – list your mailboxes and the state each one is in
- MCP: [docs.reply.io/mcp](https://docs.reply.io/mcp/overview) – check mailbox state from an assistant