i heard from a friend of a friend that is in no way related to me that, there are in fact many a credit sink in the form of social items and vanity toys within swtor already. including ship items to this effect.
this is merely what i heard and not at all based on any personal testing or non-testing.
I like that every class is linked with their signature ship, it help you as a player really connect with your class story and feel like a member of your signature class. Too much individual customization can be a bad thing too.