In every town/outpost there is a [merchant] NPC. You can sell almost anything to the merchant, but many items, such as Dye, Runes, etc. have their own "traders" which will often give you more for an item than the merchant. These traders are not in every town though.
Check out a wiki for more info:
http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page
Also, of course, many items may be worth more to other players than they are to the merchant/traders. Check out the buy/sell forums here to see what may be valuable:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6
If you are in Pre-searing (Prophecies) you won't run into the various traders and your storage account until you go through the Academy. Save your Dyes and other 'trader' stuff until you get to post-searing Ascalon City.