WoW help needed

I'm sure there are some World of Warcraft players out there.....

Two questions - and they are really STUPID n00b questions:

1. How the hell do you SELL stuff?  I've given all my items to a merchant but he won't give me any money.

2. I've done something really stupid and run into an area where I keep getting killed off in about ten seconds.  How can I get away???