Salem

when i open a container then right click on my purse, enter the number of silver i need. then hit enter..the container/barrel that i want to put the silver in closes and im left standing there with the silver on my curser. how do i trade silver?

press tab and place the silver in your inventory then open the container again and place the silver in the crate shift left click the stack.

Put them into your inventory.
If you want to trade, there are barrels in town that everyone can open. You put silver in, they take it, they put goods in (or not).
The entire process is depended on trust and scammers are everywhere. That is why it is very important to only do "big" transactions with known and reputable traders. You can risk a small amount of silver to get to know a new trader but... yeah, nothing safe.