After the buyer finishes checkout and the payment processor confirms the buyer's payment was good and completed, we grant the buyer access to a thank-you page where we present their unique download link(s) automatically. If you have a Common Thank-you Page URL set in Account Prefs, then buyers would be directed there instead.
After payment is completed, we also issue the a thank-you email with a link to reach the thank-you/download page in case they did not proceed there after checkout. Their download link(s) expire after the number of attempts or hours (whichever comes first) that you specify in each product's settings.