Eldiora, you can only turn "wearable" items into gold (ie, armor and accessories) and it randomly increases their value. I've had some items almost double in value, while others only seem to get a 10% increase. Still, more money is always welcome. You still have to sell them or barter them off to vendors, but in cases where you're trying to buy particularly pricy items (such as Skill Books) that's rarely a problem.
And Lord Crash - sorry man, it's a matter of luck (or patience if you want to do some savescumming) with those containers. Personally, I tend to load up on Lucky Charm as quickly as possible, and always open containers with my lucky character. I'm only Level 4 at the moment, but I'm already at Rank 4 with that skill - and it tends to give me lucky finds in something like one out of every three random containers I look in.
