I just hit level 39 on my smuggler last night and I realized that by companion is severely under-geared. Most of his stuff is listed as level 20-something. I've noticed he takes a real beating even against 3 minions at this point. (I'm using Corso right now).

I don't have many planet commendations to buy stuff but I have a decent amount of money. I would like to spend some of it and give my companion come nice gear upgrades. Green and blue stuff is more than fine for me. The problem is, I have no idea where to buy it. There were 2 OK items on the GTN, but suppose I don't want to use that.

Is there a vendor somewhere that I can use to gear up? Some guys on fleet said to get pvp gear, but the only stuff I saw was either level 50 pvp gear or stuff I buy with pvp commendations. I just want to spend credits and buy some simple level appropriate gear.

Thanks for any help or advice.

There is really not much gear available for credits. Most of it is white gear, which has only armor and no stats. Or it's very expensive orange gear.

Did you check the GTN on the fleet or Nar Shadaa? The fleet will have a better selection.

Does Corso have all his slots filled? Earpiece, implants, head, wrists, waist? Even a low level piece will help a lot in an empty slot.

Really the best way to gear a companion is by questing. You should always check the gear that drops off mobs against what your companion is wearing. You can enable companion gear comparative tooltips in preferences. You also need to balance which quest rewards you choose. Many quests reward companion gear - you can only choose one piece - or a planetary commendation. If you always pick the commendation, this is probably why your companion is undergeared.

Depending on the server, the GTN might be a treasure trove of riches at cheap prices (if the server is a high pop one, usually), or a wasteland of few choices and steep costs (lower pop servers, typically).

As Corso is so heavily under-geared, I would suggest looking at the Flashpoints that you can repeatedly solo (probably Cademimu/Mandalorian Raiders/Athiss, depending on Corso's gear situation).

I would personally tend to try and pick up a few orange pieces on the GTN or loot drops from flashpoints, and bolster those with some green/blue items that provide an upgrade of his current gear. Once you have him to a reasonable point, slaughtering the Standard/Strong groups on your current planet for commendations, running Heroics for their commendations, and doing everything you can to get some commendations, would be the next step. Then visit the Commendations vendors on the fleet and upgrade the attachments on the orange pieces so they are as good as possible.